Cougars Stay Alive With Huge Postseason Win

This article was originally published in ZU News.

All the Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team wanted was one more chance. It seems that they are making the most out of that final opportunity.

The No. 7-seeded Cougars won their first-round match of the playoffs against the No. 2 seed Dixie State, 69-65. The Cougars were led by junior guard Darien McClain and senior forward Petar Kutlesic with 21 and 18 points respectively.

Last week, APU lost to California Baptist in the PacWest postseason tournament. Even with the loss, the 20-10 Cougars were selected as part of the eight team NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament.

This win was particularly big for the Cougars because it keeps them alive in the postseason, while also snapping Dixie State’s 17-game win streak and ending their season earlier than expected. Dixie finished first in PacWest play, with a record of 23-6.

Kutlesic helped seal the win for the Cougars by scoring four points in the final two minutes of the game. He finished the night with a team leading 10 rebounds.

With everything on the line and every team in a win-or-go-home situation, the Cougars will look to seek vengeance and redemption against one of their biggest rivals tomorrow.

With the win, the Cougars move on to the second round of the tournament where they will face the No. 3 seed, California Baptist, at 5 p.m. on Saturday. This will be the fourth time that the two teams will meet this season, and the Lancers are the only PacWest opponent that APU has yet to beat this year.

Acro & Tumbling Improves To 3-0 For Best Start In Program History

This article was originally published in ZU News.

The Azusa Pacific acrobatics and tumbling team won their third straight meet and their second of the season against rival Hawaii Pacific. The team had their closest win of the season, with a score of 271.720-267.410.

While the Cougars edged out Hawaii Pacific by about four points, they were actually behind Hawaii Pacific for most of the meet, through all the individual events.

“It was kind of bittersweet to be honest. We didn’t perform like we should have our whole first half, until the team event. Beating them in team event by as much as we did was awesome,” head coach Colleen Kausrud said. “For the whole meet before that, we kind of just felt like we were in a cloud. We came out of the cloud for the team event which was really nice.”

Sophomore back Kara Ingersoll echoed Kausrud’s thoughts.

“Personally, it was hard going through the whole meet knowing we were behind them because Hawaii [Pacific] is our biggest rival. It was disappointing to know how hard we work in practice and not see it pay off in the individual parts,” Ingersoll said. “Coming together before the team event helped us and it will continue to help us as we go back to practice knowing that we need to work harder for the next meet.”

The Cougars scored 97.47 points in the team event with a start value of 107.32, while HPU followed with a score of 90.86 points on a start value of 105.61 points. The seven point swing helped the Cougars in the come-from-behind win.

“We realized that we were behind and there was nothing to lose, so we just needed to leave everything on the mat and do the best we can do. I don’t think any of us expected that we were going to score that high in the team event,” Ingersoll said. “That was a good feeling afterwards. I wish we could have been ahead of them the whole meet, but it happened and we just need to grow from that.”

This was the team’s third straight win. They opened up with a win against Hawaii Pacific at home with a score of 282.075-270.670. APU then beat Concordia (Wisconsin) 263.925-230.620 on Feb. 12.

“To go 3-0 is pretty awesome. We’ve never done that to start a season. I feel like we can keep that going. There’s no reason we can’t and that’s exciting,” Kausrud said.

Senior top Rachel Shier noted how the team has grown throughout the season already.

“We’ve come together and grown pretty well. We’re still kind of learning each other as athletes. It’s cool to see girls cheering each other on,” Shier said. “To go from losing to winning in the meet showed how we can pull together. That was our time to shine and we had to trust each other to pull through.”

The next meet for the acro and tumbling team is on Tuesday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at home against Quinnipiac.

“I feel like we’re pretty evenly matched. It will be good to have a home meet. Our team does really well at home with the home crowd. We’re probably most evenly matched with Quinnipiac,” Kausrud said. “We were ranked third in the coaches poll and they were ranked fourth, so we’ve got a lot to prove.”

Shier and Ingersoll both said they were excited for the home meet. Ingersoll noted she was ready to prove that the team deserved their third-place ranking.

“There’s a lot more excitement at practice because we know we’re seeded third,” Ingersoll said. “It’s such a good feeling knowing we can be ahead of some DI schools and all the DII and DIII schools. There’s a push at practice because we know we deserve to be in this third seed."

Cougars Break Six School Records At PCSC Championships

This article was originally published in ZU News.

The Cougars’ swim team finished off their season in a big way, placing fourth of thirteen teams at the Pacific Coast Swimming Championships (PCSC) held in La Mirada from Feb. 14-17. The team broke six total school records in relays and individual events, with several swimmers setting personal best times.

On Wednesday, junior Abigail Wiet, junior Elodie Poo Cheong, senior Angel Van Hofwegen and freshman Emily Rigsby broke the school record in the 200-meter medley relay with a time of 1:46.00. They finished sixth in the event.

The Cougars also broke another record on Wednesday when Wiet, Poo Cheong, and seniors Alyse Darnall and Rosalee Mira Santa Ana swam a 7:33.92 in the 800-meter freestyle relay. They finished fourth in the event and Darnall said she was happy with the results.

“Wednesday was a fun day to kick it off. We broke the school record in that, which was really cool,” Darnall said. “We also got the provisional cut in that for nationals which means that we just need one person from the relay to make it to nationals for another event so that the whole relay team can go to nationals.”

In the likelihood that one of the members makes nationals, all four girls will attend nationals from March 14-17 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Darnall said she’s excited to find out if the relay’s time was good enough for nationals.

“We’ll keep training. Those are seriously some of the hardest working girls on the team and it’s really fun to train with them. I love working hard with other people,” Darnall said. “I’m also looking forward to ending my college career and swimming career at nationals in North Carolina.”

Darnall is one of four seniors on the team. This was her last regular season meet for APU.

“It really didn’t hit me until last night during prelims. I was behind the blocks before my race when it finally hit me that this is my last meet with the whole team,” Darnall said. “It’s very bittersweet. It doesn’t feel real. I’m sad, but excited. I’m going to miss the team because that’s a big part of my life, but I’m excited for the next chapter of my life, to see where God takes me.”

Darnall and the rest of the team will find out on Feb. 28 if they made it to nationals or not. Two of the swimmers who will likely be headed to nationals are Santa Ana and senior Tamara Miler.

Santa Ana placed second in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 4:56.87 and placed fourth in the 1000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:16.38. Miler finished just behind Santa Ana in the 500-meter with a time of 5:03.31 but finished just ahead of her in the 1000-meter with a time of 10:13.83. All of their times in these events were good for an NCAA “B” cut.

Poo Cheong placed second in the 200-meter IM with a time of 2:05.10. Wiet finished just behind her with a time of 2:06.17.

“I’m really happy. This is the result of all the hard work I’ve put in. Some of the school records were really old so it shows the progress that we’re making, getting better and better every year,” Poo Cheong said.

Poo Cheong said she wants to continue to lower her times and get better before nationals. She is already preparing for the pressure of nationals after the pressure of conference championships.

“There was a lot of pressure, not in a bad way, just to show what I can do, what I’ve been working hard for, race and have fun,” Poo Cheong said.

On the final day of the championships, Wiet represented the Cougars with a third place finish in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:02.18, just .01 behind the second place swimmer.

“I ended up getting out-touched by one one-hundredth of a second. It’s disappointing, you think if I only would have had a better turn or a better finish, it would have been different,” Wiet said. “I was just so exhausted afterwards that I don’t think I could have done anything more to out-touch that girl.”

Wiet has had a rough season, battling injuries from last summer, injuries throughout the season and even into the championships.

“It’s been kind of crazy. This whole year I’ve been riddled with injuries. Even at conference, I’ve been dealing with some injuries, so I haven’t been at top form,” Wiet said. “I’m prepared to go to nationals if I qualify, but I’m also prepared if I don’t make it. I had a great end of the season for me. Seeing the team come together and seeing everyone have really good times was good enough for me at this point.”

Wiet said that the season has been rough for the whole team, not just her, but that this was a good way to end it.

“It was a really fun meet. Sometimes our team has been a little ‘not together’ during the season,” Wiet said. “It was awesome to see everyone finally come together. It was emotional in a fun and exciting way.”

Cougars' Tennis Notches Four Wins Against UCSD & PLNU

This article was originally published in ZU News.

The men’s and women’s tennis team posted back-to-back wins over UC San Diego and Point Loma on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The 23rd-ranked women’s team beat ninth-ranked UC San Diego 6-3 on Thursday and then beat Point Loma 6-3 on Saturday.

Senior Toby Miclat was key to both of the  Cougars’ wins. Miclat had two wins in singles, with a 6-2, 6-1 win against UC San Diego.

“It wasn’t an easy match, but we won quickly. My opponent was good, but I just played better. It’s really nice when you win personally and that’s validated by a team win,” Miclat said.

Miclat had a 6-2, 6-3 win against Point Loma in singles and also won in her doubles match with junior Kara Hinton 8-4.

“We played clean today. It’s always good to start with two wins in doubles. It relieved a lot of stress when Jackie [Resler] and April [Wong] won their two matches,” Miclat said.

Senior Jackie Resler also came in big for the Cougars. She won 6-2, 6-1 in singles against UC San Diego and 6-2, 6-1 against Point Loma.

“I just kept playing my game. I thought I played really well. I was mentally strong and didn’t back down. I think I intimidated my opponent to make her think she needed to play harder,” Resler said. “They want to beat us so badly. But we played really strong as a team and supported each other. They’re a great team to play against.”

Head coach Mark Bohren said he was proud of the way both the women’s and men’s team played.

“For the start of the season, I think both teams played well. Point Loma had a good showing too, we were just a little better at each position on the men’s side,” Bohren said. “On the women’s side, all the matches were competitive, we were fortunate to win, but we’ll take it.”

Bohren said that the wins against UC San Diego were key for the overall season.

“It’s always a battle when we play UC San Diego. It’s never easy,” Bohren said. “We were lucky to be on the winning end.”

The men’s team, ranked fifth in the nation, beat 15th-ranked UC San Diego 8-1 and Point Loma 9-0.

“Friday was a tough match, even though on paper it seemed like an easy 8-1 win. Lots of our guys lost the first set so they had to battle back to win, which they did. All of our guys came out on top in singles. We also showed that we have a strong doubles side after we started 2-1 in doubles,” graduate student Oliver Frank said.

Frank won both of his matches against both UC San Diego and Point Loma. He won 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8) against UC San Diego and 6-3, 6-4 against Point Loma.

“I had a tough opponent today, but I felt more confident than yesterday, confident in my shots. I didn’t have as many unforced errors as yesterday,” Frank said. “I struggled a little bit going into the season, but this match gave me confidence and I’m getting back to the point I was at last season.”

Even though they only dropped one out of the eighteen possible points between both matches, Frank said the team has room for improvement.

“We know we have to improve in certain aspects. That’s what we’re working on. Even though we won 9-0 today and 8-1 yesterday, there’s still stuff we can work on to get better that we’ll need against the big opponents as we go into nationals. We’ll try to learn from the mistakes that we had these past two days, work hard and move on,” Frank said. “This is showing us that we’re moving in the right direction as the season progresses and we’re all excited and confident to move on and play match by match.”

The women’s team will head out to Cal State Los Angeles on Feb. 12. The men and women will have a week off after that, and on Monday, Feb. 19, both teams will face Cornerstone Cup rival, Biola University, in La Mirada, Calif.

Water Polo Wins Big In Both Games At Whittier Invitational

This article was originally published in ZU News. 

The Azusa Pacific water polo team won both games in a double header on Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Whittier Invitational. They started the day by beating Chapman 14-4 and then dominating Redlands 18-7.

Sophomore driver Sarah Adams led the team in goals during the day with six total. She had two against Chapman and four against Redlands.

“It went pretty well. We won by a good amount and played together as a team,” Adams said. “We played well together, especially since it’s only the third week with the new freshmen playing with us. One of the freshmen, Britni Tisdale, played really well. She helped us a lot with her quickness.”

All told, there were eight different players who scored for the Cougars in the first game and ten different players in the second game.

Head coach Julie Snodgrass said that she was proud of the way the team played.

“We were pretty intentional about setting team goals. We got pretty close to meeting all of those. I think we made six goals before the game and we met four of the six and were really close to the other two,” Snodgrass said. “They’re coming together well and figuring out each other’s tendencies and realizing some things we need to clean up as the season continues.”

Junior Annalise Batcheller lead the team in goals against Chapman, as she notched a hat trick.

“It was a good day overall. The team was able to stay focused on the task at hand and work on improving,” Snodgrass said.

Senior goalkeeper Erica Marquez had her best game of the season as she only allowed 4 goals against Chapman. Marquez said that she’s impressed with the freshman’s performance so far.

“The freshman have been contributing a lot. They’ve worked really well into our system and added some speed and depth to the team.”

Marquez and Snodgrass said they’re looking forward to the Cougars next game against Cal State Northridge.

“They’re definitely a formidable opponent. I think that we match up well with them. It should be a game that’s fun to watch for spectators [one of the few home games of the season], but it will definitely be intense as well,” Snodgrass said. “It’s our brick game. I would love to see not just athletes but students come out and support us. We lost by one goal in the beginning of the year and then again about a month ago and the coach shook hands with me and said it looks like we have a good rivalry going here.”

Adams agreed that CSU Northridge has become the team’s rival for this year.

“This year they’re our rivals. We’re playing them four times, including in a tournament in Michigan,” Adams said. “We’re going to have a lot of momentum on our side, especially since it’s our brick game. I think this game will be a good opportunity to beat them since it’s at home.”

Snodgrass said the team has played better than last year, but they are still working on meeting their goals.

“We want to compete better against our conference opponents. We finished fourth in the conference last year and we want to do better,” Snodgrass said. “More than the schedule, we want to come together as a whole, and the upperclassmen have done a good job of leading us there. We want to give our best and see how far we can go.”

Snodgrass said the team has one other goal, to crack the top 20 nationally ranked teams, which includes Division I schools. She said that she thinks the team can do it under its senior leadership.

“I’m really proud of the upperclassmen and my captains,” Snodgrass said. “They’ve really created a drive and a hunger in this team.”

Acro & Tumbling Team Looks Forward To First Match Against Rival Hawai'i Pacific

This article originally appeared in ZU News.

The acrobatics and tumbling team starts their season on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Felix Event Center with a home meet against rival Hawai’i Pacific.

Last year the Cougars lost against Hawai’i Pacific twice in the regular season before beating them in the postseason.

Head coach Colleen Kausrud said that these games have created a rivalry.

“Against them we lose or win by tenths of points. When it’s that close, it could be one step that makes us lose. Because we’ve beaten them by so little and lost by so little, it makes them even more of a rival,” Kausrud said. “We’re looking forward to watching the talent of the girls, watching the confidence come out. They have it and that’s something we want to see. We’re excited about a good competition.”

The team will have six meets throughout the season. Hawai’i Pacific is the only school that APU will face twice.

“It’s nice because you can either beat them twice or have revenge if you lost the first time. We want to beat them twice in the regular season,” assistant coach Kara Meier said.

The team has eight seniors including top Jamie Nolta, who admits that she’s excited for the season to start.

“I’m looking forward to just being out on the mat with my teammates for the first time. The first meet is always exciting for us to show off our new skills,” Nolta said. “I’m excited to win against them and prove that what happened in championships last year wasn’t a fluke.”

Nolta said she’s loved getting to grow alongside her teammates all four years.

“It’s cool that we have so many seniors. I feel like we’re the first class that’s stayed together all four years,” Nolta said. “We all know each other so well and like working together. We know our strengths and weaknesses and can play into those. We trust each other a lot and can lead the team as a group.”

As big as the senior class on the team is, the freshmen actually outnumber them, with nine total freshmen on the team.

Senior base Ashleigh Pitts said that she’s enjoyed getting to work with the freshmen so far.

“It’s fun getting to know new people and speak life into them in different ways and hang out with them outside of practice,” Pitts said. “It’s crazy that they are the future of acro and tumbling. We get to teach them the hard things, like how to balance acro and school.”

Meier said that coaching the freshmen has been challenging but exciting.

“It’s nice to have a big class since we have eight seniors graduating. We’re grooming those freshmen to fill some big roles once those seniors leave. Just trying to groom the talent and manage it and keep them looking forward to the future even if they’re not starting this year,” Meier said.

Pitts said that she’s excited to see how the season plays out. Last year, the team went 3-5 in the regular season, but a win-loss record isn’t what really matters to Pitts.

“I would define success as looking at progression, seeing how far we’ve come from where we were in August, or just building lifelong relationships and things that go deeper than just Acro,” Pitts said. “When I think of our meets, I don’t think of wins and losses, I think of the relationships I made and the fun days we had.”

After Hawaii Pacific, the Cougars will head out to Wisconsin to face off against Concordia (Wis.) on Feb. 12.

Men's & Women's Tennis Teams Have High Expectations For Season

This article was originally published in ZU News.

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams have high expectations for the season as they work on team chemistry before their first matches. Both teams will open against two NCAA Division II opponents to start the season on Feb. 2-3.

The women’s team will play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at home on Feb. 2 before traveling to Redlands on Feb. 3. The men’s team will open up at home against Cal Tech on Feb. 3 before joining the women’s team at Redlands later that day.

Mark Bohren, the men’s and women’s tennis head coach, said that he expects big things from the team this year with many talented players.

“For both teams, we’re trying to do better than last year. The guys got to the quarters last year. The girls were in the middle of the PacWest. So we’re hoping to take each program one more step. I guess the guys would have to get to the semi’s to do better than last year. For the girls, making it to the final 16 would be really nice,” Bohren said. “At the beginning of the season we try to set our goals and play well and hopefully that feeds into our matches. Hopefully we get better each time we go out there. The guys and the girls support each other. That’s always challenging with tennis as an individual sport. We’ve got a lot of good players.”

Bohren did not place a lot of significance on the first two matches of the season.

“I’m just excited to see our guys and girls play somebody else other than each other,” Bohren said.

The women’s team has four freshmen this year, about half the team, while the men’s team has five. Bohren said that he expects the freshmen to get a fair amount of playing time.

“We try to give everyone some opportunities during the season. Sometimes some players aren’t great in practice but they are really great competitors in matches,” Bohren said. “We’ve got the makings of a really good team this year, so hopefully we’re able to do something with that.”

One of the returners on the men’s side is graduate student Oliver Frank. Frank was the DII national champion singles player last year. He came up just short in the fall from reclaiming that title, but he did become the DII double’s national champion with his partner Christian Schmid. Frank said he was very excited for the season.

“The team is looking really, really good. I feel like everybody stepped up their game over the fall. We definitely used our offseason to get prepared for the regular season. We’re all stoked for it. We can’t wait for our first match,” Frank said. “Compared to last year, I think we have a little more talent on the team, but it all comes down to having the grit to keep grinding hard for three months.”

Frank also didn’t put much emphasis on the first matches of the season.

“I haven’t played Cal Tech before, so I’m excited to play them, but the whole team is just excited to get out there and play. For the five freshmen on the team, this will be their first college match. I’m excited for them to see what college tennis looks like.”

Frank is a big part of why the men’s team finished the season ranked fifth in DII last season. He went 24-0 in his matches, only dropping two sets all season. The team will start the season still ranked fifth, but that isn’t the most important thing to Frank.

“I think last year we started the season ranked 13th or so and finished ranked fifth. That definitely shows that we’ve been working hard and we deserve to have such a high national ranking. This year we’ll get the reward of the hard work from last season,” Frank said. “We’re ranked high, but we don’t want to focus on that too much. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’re ranked fifth, sixth, seventh or 15th, you’ve got to beat the top teams and that’s what we’re trying to do this year.”

Frank stated he wants to repeat last year’s success in going undefeated as a singles player. However, this goal is on the backburner.

“My personal goal is to go into every singles and doubles match and just win it, but overall it only matters if the team wins. My personal goals are secondary. The team comes first,” Frank said.

On the women’s side, senior co-captain Jackie Resler has her own goals for the team, including team bonding and chemistry.

“I try to make them grow as a player. I work on the mentality side, showing them how I see certain things. We have team bonding activities like going out to eat or watching movies, just to bring the team closer off the courts,” Resler said. “We have a lot of talented new girls. It’s basically like having a brand new team. Me and [fellow junior and teammate] Kara [Hinton] are working to make the team more like a team. We each have our own personalities and our own talents. Each of us brings something to the team. I’m really excited for this season. I can’t wait to see how these girls perform and how much they’ve improved since August.”

Unlike Frank and Bohren, Resler is excited for her first opponent of the season, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Cougars lost 0-5 against them last season.

“It should be an interesting match. They’re one of the top schools in Division III,” Resler said. “I want to see how our girls play against them, where they’ve improved and what their strengths are. It will be my first time seeing the new girls play in a real match.”

For her personal goals, Resler said that she wants to play more aggressively with less lobs, and stay calm during the game.

“I’m here to be the best player I can be. As one of the captains, I try to keep my cool, not to get frustrated after some points,” Resler said.

After playing Redlands, the teams will have a week off before UC San Diego and Point Loma come to Azusa on Feb. 8-10.

Cougars Qualify Seven For Nationals In Season Opener

This article originally appeared in ZU News. 

The Azusa Pacific track and field team attended their first invitational of the season, the Dr. Martin Luther King Invitational in New Mexico on Jan. 19-20. The team had seven athletes qualify for indoor nationals provisionally and several others set personal bests in their respective events.

“I thought it went really well. There were quite a few athletes that got personal bests, or indoor bests, or just started off where we want them to start off,” head coach Jack Hoyt said. “In indoor season, we really focus on having  qualifying marks for nationals, or if they’re not at that level, building through indoors to get to outdoors. It was really good to see how they compete and I was really happy with it.”

Of the seven athletes that qualified for nationals, six were infield events. Senior Miles Poullard qualified in the high jump with a jump of 2.07m / 6′-9½”. Senior James Jones set a personal best and qualified in the shotput with a throw of 17.86m / 58′-7¼”.

“James had five throws right in the same area showing great consistency. Those throws will also get him to indoor nationals,” Hoyt said. “Every meet we go to, we’re just trying to get one or two more people on that plane. Those are two of the people that we’re really looking forward to having lead the team as seniors and national qualifiers.”

On the women’s side, freshmen Nicole Warwick qualified in the long jump with a jump of 5.77m/18′-11¼”. This jump put her in 10th place nationally and sixth in APU track history. Sophomore Olivia Nash qualified in the triple jump at 11.88m / 38′-11¾”. This places her eighth nationally. Senior Cyinna Booker also qualified in the triple jump at 11.65m / 38′-2¾”. Senior Jacky Chasteler qualified in the weight throw with a throw of 18.41m / 60′-5″.

“We were really happy with that, for her to qualify right out of the gate on that throw. It was a beauty,” Hoyt said.

The only APU athlete to qualify for nationals on the track side was senior Richard Finical in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.37 seconds, which placed him fifth overall in the event.

“The meet went good for me and I’m happy with the times I opened up with. It felt really good to finally get back on the track and compete again,” Finical said. “The whole team really went out there and performed great. A lot of our girls and guys were able to either post PR’s or put up marks close to their PR’s, which is crazy because it’s the first meet of the year. I’m really excited to see how our team will compete throughout the year.”

Sophomore Joshua Cantong also represented the cougars in the 400-meter dash, finishing 16th overall with a time of 50.20 seconds, and the 600-meter dash, finishing 17th overall with a time of 1:22.45.

“I think with a season opener, and especially an indoor season opener, the expectation is to get out there and compete and shake off the off-season rust and just to become more acclimated to the upcoming competition we’ll see as we go further into the spring. Time standards and meet goals tend to be more weighted for meets at the end of the year compared to opening meets. But even taking that into account we had a pretty solid trip,” Cantong said. “As an individual, I see a successful meet as one in which I stay healthy and run fast. And I did that! I was able to work on fine tuning my pre-race visualization routine and my race strategies.”

Cantong said that he is looking forward to trying to break his PR’s in the 400-meter dash and the 800-meter dash, as well as compete in the 4×400-meter dash relay. APU did not have a team compete in the 4×400 for this invitational.

“The team is looking pretty solid. For the success we experienced, we’ll build on in the coming months—and for our individuals who didn’t hit their expectations, we’ll use that as motivation and as a reference point to see where we can improve in the future,” Cantong said. “It’s very early but I think the train is going in a good direction.”

The Cougars will compete this weekend at the University of Washington Invitational on Jan. 26-27.

“There are a few people that we’re really excited about trying to qualify for nationals there. They have a pentathlon and our new freshmen, Nicole Warwick, gets her shot in trying to qualify in that. She did a great job this last weekend in her first college meet ever. Her first high jump was a personal best and everything was an indoor best because she had never done indoor before. She had four events between Friday and Saturday,” Hoyt said.

This is Hoyt’s first year at APU. He previously served at the associate head coach for UCLA’s track team for five years, the jump/throws coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for six years, the head coach at Seattle Pacific for seven years and as an assistant coach at Seattle Pacific before that.

“APU has been great, the best job I’ve ever had. There are really hard working athletes that are easy to coach, really friendly people. They’re also really trying to improve in their skills,” Hoyt said. “I really enjoy working with the team. They all had great attitudes on the trip. We had to rush around a little bit to make our flights. Our flight was delayed on Thursday night, so we ended up not getting to the hotel until about 3 a.m. I never heard any complaints and it was just an amazing group to work with. I think it’s setting us up for being a team who enjoys being together and competing and performing well.”

The team will compete in the University of Washington Invitational on Jan. 26-27 and the Colorado University Open on Feb. 1-3.

Cougars Rally For Comeback Victory Over Biola In Front Of Packed Crowd

This article was originally published in ZU News. 

The Felix Events Center was the loudest its been since Midnight Madness, which took place before the Cougars’ first game of the season. A total of 1,948 students, parents, and rival spectators filled the gym to watch the first men’s basketball game between Azusa Pacific and Biola in four years. The hype had built up for months and the teams did not disappoint as APU rallied to an 82-76 victory.

Senior forward Corey Langerveld was one of the only players on the team that had played Biola before, in his freshmen year.

“I almost didn’t get to experience this rivalry again. There was a lot of intensity, which is good for us. If I remember correctly, there were more people here when I played them my freshmen year, but that game wasn’t during break,” Langerveld said. “It meant a lot to us that so many students came back early to watch the game. We were worried that no one was going to be here. I thank The ZU for rallying so many people and getting them out here.”

Sophomore guard Mandrell Worthy was equally excited about the game.

“It was a great atmosphere. I love playing in rivalry games. Everyone was hyped and there was a lot of adrenaline. I can’t wait for the next time we play them,” Worthy said.

This was the 104th meeting between the two schools, and the Cougars now hold a 56-48 lead in the all-time match-up rivalry.

Worthy led the team with 21 points. He also had eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

“We play as a unit. My teammates found me and I made shots, but it’s all because of them. They created shots for me,” Worthy said.

The rest of the team didn’t shoot quite as well as Worthy. The team shot 35.8 percent overall and 20.0 percent from beyond the arc.

“I can’t believe we shot that bad, especially in the first half. We had a lot of great looks that just wouldn’t go. To shoot 35 percent and still score in the 80’s… that’s a fluke,” head coach Justin Leslie said. “It was the rebounding. We kept crashing and got the misses. We had 25 offensive rebounds. It wasn’t pretty, but good teams have to find ways to win and that was our way tonight.”

The Cougars struggled in the first half, as Biola opened up a nine-point lead. APU was able to come back and tie it up 32-32 going into halftime.

“We weren’t doing a good job of containing them early on. We just had to make some adjustments. They were scoring a bit too consistently. Selom and Petar rebounded well and contained them in the last few minutes. It was just our guys digging in and getting a stop and then making the appropriate play on offense,” Leslie said.

Each team traded shots in the second half, with a total of nine ties in the first 15 minutes of the half. With a little over four minutes left and the score tied 65-65, the Cougars defense buckled down and the offense went off, allowing the team to build a lead as big as 11 points.

“Players make plays. I’d love to say I made some great play calls, but it was them. Darien [McClain] made some great passes and had that lay-up. Mandrell [Worthy] outsprinted them for the ball which turned into a fast break dunk. Petar [Kutlesic] crashed the rim and got a tip-in. Selom [Mawugbe] got a tip-in,” Leslie said. “They pulled together and made the appropriate play. It showed a lot of maturity to go out there and take advantage of what was given.”

Worthy credited the defense for getting stops while Langerveld said the team was waiting for a run like that.

“We knew we had to make a run sooner or later. We burst through that wall. We had to just lock down on defense and then make smart offensive plays, which is what we did,” Langerveld said.

The team had four players score in the double digits on the night. Langerveld had 15 points, senior forward Petar Kutlesic and junior guard Darien McClain both had 13 points.

“We’re a deep team, a balanced team. We have lots of guys who are capable of scoring points in different ways,” Leslie said. “I’m always happy when different guys have the opportunity to step up. They all play a valuable role. They’re critical to our success. Mandrell off the bench tonight was just fantastic. Ben [Taufahema] came off the bench and made those two-three’s in the first half, which kept us in striking distance. It was exciting to see them come in and have an impact. I was very pleased with the bench.”

The Cougars improve to 11-5 on the season and a 7-1 record in the PacWest, currently sitting at first place in the conference. APU will have to perform near-perfectly as they prepare for another one of their biggest rivals, Cal Baptist, in Riverside on Jan. 13. The matchup will be a battle for first-place as the Lancers are currently 12-2 on the season and 5-1 in conference play.

Cougars Cruise To Win Over Biola, Continue To Dominate PacWest

This article was originally published in ZU News.

The women’s basketball team improved to 16-2 on the season and a conference best 7-1 record with a 75-61 win against Biola on Jan. 6. This was their first game against Biola as part of the Cornerstone Cup.

The Cougars drained a total of ten three-point baskets in the game, led by senior guards Abbigail Goodsell and Tara Casey, who both had four.

“We usually take that many three pointers in a game. They usually don’t. They were making them and that’s what was keeping them in the game. We would have liked to not let them make as many, but in a rivalry game, that’s going to happen,” head coach T.J. Hardeman said. “I was proud of our girls. They grinded through the whole game.”

Although the team shot well from behind the arc, they missed a lot of shots in the second half, shooting 32.9 percent overall.

“We didn’t have the execution we wanted to have at times on plays. Even when those plays broke down, we got after the ball with 14 offensive rebounds in the second half,” Hardeman said.

The team was led by Goodsell and sophomore guard Savanna Hanson, who had 17 points apiece. Hanson also had 11 rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

“We would have liked to beat them by more, but we were just happy that we’re taking the win,” Hanson said. “We can take the good things we did tonight, mainly threes, and find the other stuff we still need to work on.”

Casey and Gabrielle Kaiser also helped the team get the win. Casey had 15 points while Kaiser had nine points with a team-leading two blocks.

“The game went really well. We worked hard. We knew their plays. We worked together as a team and had some ups and downs,” Kaiser said.

With the win, the Cougars increased their win streak to five games, but Kaiser said the streak isn’t important to the team.

“The streak doesn’t matter to us. We’re focusing on each game, going game by game. We have to come out with our best effort each time,” Kaiser said.

One of the keys to the wins has been defense. During the streak, the offense has been averaging 85 points a game, while their defense has allowed a stifling 61 points a game on average.

“We’re putting our defense first. Even in games where we don’t shoot really well, our defense shuts them down and we get the win,” Hanson said.

This was the first time the team has played Biola as part of the new Cornerstone Cup, which will be awarded to the school with the most overall points through different sports.

“This is the biggest crowd that we’ve had all year,” Kaiser said. “It feels like a rivalry already, not quite as big as CBU yet, but it will get there.”

Hardeman stated that he enjoyed the competitive atmosphere and the chance to play a school like Biola.

“They’re great people. It’s good to know that they’ve got the same goal in developing young women and men of God,” Hardeman said. “We want to compete and beat them and they want to beat us too, but when we’re done, we’re all brothers and sisters.”

Prior to the game, APU was ranked 18th in the NCAA Division II rankings.

“That just means we need to work harder,” Kaiser said. “We’re not number one yet.”

The Cougars will prepare for another rivalry game as they will head to Riverside to take on California Baptist on Jan. 13.