Stories For A Sunday Morning

A couple of feel-good stories on a Sunday morning.

First, a Daily Times story about Villanova's Matt Szczur, a two-sport standout who will be deciding between signing a pro baseball contract if he's chosen high in this spring's free agent draft, or returning to the Nova football team next fall after helping the Wildcats to the 2009 national championship.

From the story:

While Szczur hopes to be back at Villanova next year, he’s certain of just one thing. On March 15, he will donate bone marrow to an infant girl battling juvenile leukemia. On March 11 the product of Lower Cape May Regional High School ... begins taking medicines to accelerate the production of bone marrow.

Szczur will miss about a week of baseball at-bats as the meds will enlarge his spleen and the doctors don’t want him to risk injury. But, hey, the guy was ready to sacrifice an appearance in the FCS title game he ultimately dominated. His first donor date was Dec. 16th, the day before what turned into the biggest game of his life.

“I’ll miss a couple of baseball games but it’s a no-brainer to do it,” said Szczur, another in a long line of Wildcat athletes to embrace (Villanova football coach Andy) Talley’s bone marrow donor program. “One of my best friends back home is fighting cancer. If I could do anything for her I would. So I figure I should do anything to help this little girl out.”

And in case you missed it, here's a video of a much-higher profile collegian who also knows something about doing the right thing:



A couple of old friends had a Saturday to remember. Former Dartmouth women's basketball great Courtney Banghart (the nation's leading 3-pointer shooter as a senior) helped Princeton clinch its first NCAA Tournament bid last night with a win over Harvard. Banghart, who cut her coaching teeth under Chris Wielgus at Dartmouth, has led the Tigers to 25-2 overall mark (13-0 in the Ivy League). No Ivy League women's basketball team has ever won more games. (link)

And Mike Maker, an assistant coach at Dartmouth from 1991-2002 before moving on to Samford, West Virginia and Creighton, guided No. 2 Williams to an 83-64 win over Maine-Farmington yesterday in the second round of the men's NCAA Division III tournament. Maker's Ephs are 27-1 with 18 consecutive wins, which ties the school record. (link) Williams will now play SUNY IT. The full Division III bracket, which embarrassingly the NCAA had not updated as of 9 this morning, is viewable here.

Oh yeah, should have mentioned this earlier. The women's basketball title was one of two Ivy crowns won by Princeton over the weekend. One week after claiming five titles, the New Jersey powerhouse also claimed the Ivy League men's swimming championship.

Dartmouth men's hockey, by the way, outlasted Quinnipiac, 6-3, last night to force a decisive third game tonight in the opening round of the ECAC playoffs. (link) And the baseball team opened the season with a 3-2 victory over Wright State before falling at No. 1 Virginia, 14-3. The Big Green faces UVa again today. (link)

Back on the subject of FCS football stadium projects, 2008 national champion Richmond is also building a new facility. Find information on the project here and the most recent photo gallery here.

While some building projects go ahead, some other things are falling by the wayside in these uncertain economic times. New Jersey.com writes about a Garden State university dropping very successful programs without any advance notice. From the story:

In a swift and sudden move designed to “maximize its financial resources,” Seton Hall announced that four spots -- men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field -- will be wiped from the university’s athletic budget after this season. In order to meet NCAA and Title IX requirements, Seton Hall will add women’s golf to give it 14 sports.

Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan and (Seton Hall president Monsignor Robert) Sheeran said during a conference call that the track and field programs are among the most expensive to operate in the school’s athletic budget. Seton Hall spends more than $1 million per year to run the track and field program. The move will save $1.5 million annually, Sheeran said.

Finally, Dartmouth-bound quarterback Andy Gay and his Jackson High basketball team gave it a good go in the Washington 4A state tournament game, advancing to the finals before dropping a 67-58 decision at the Tacoma Dome. Along the way they defeated No. 1 Federal Way, 53-45.
(Photo: Andy Gay puts up a shot in the state semifinals.)