Winthrop roundup: Four Eagle greats join school’s athletic hall of fame
Four legendary figures in Winthrop athletics history will be joining the Winthrop Athletic Hall of Fame, the school announced Thursday.
Recently-retired softball coach Mark Cooke, women’s basketball standout Ashley Fann, men’s basketball star Michael Jenkins, and baseball pitcher Heath Rollins will receive recognition from the school at the 2019 Hall of Fame banquet.
Cooke holds the Big South record for victories (757) over his 29 years of leading the Winthrop softball program, and guided his clubs to four Big South titles. Fann was named to the all-conference team three times in her four-year career, ranking in the top five of seven individual career categories. Jenkins played on a Big South championship team for each year between 2004 and 2008, with his 33-point performance in 2008’s league title game setting a league and school record for scoring in a Big South title tilt. Rollins was the Big South Conference Player of the Year in 2006, and was an 11th-round selection of Tampa Bay in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. Rollins played in parts of six professional seasons.
The Hall of Fame banquet takes place Friday, Feb. 1, 2019. For more information on the banquet, email Natalie Hozak at hozakn@winthrop.edu, or call her at 803-323-2129, ext. 6225.
Baseball takes the field for fall
Winthrop baseball began fall practice Thursday, opening a session of just over one month that will feature two exhibition games and the annual Eagle World Series.
“One of my main objectives,” said Winthrop head coach Tom Riginos in a statement to the university, “is to teach the team how we want them to play, the speed and intensity (with which) we want to practice and play. We will also work extremely hard on our baseball fundamentals and also the installation of our playbook.”
The two Eagle exhibitions will be played against Wingate (Saturday, Oct. 6 at 2:00) and Francis Marion (Saturday, Oct. 20 at 1:00). The Eagle World Series will take place Friday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 4.
Cross-country teams compete at USC Upstate Invitational
The Winthrop men’s and women’s cross-country teams both turned in eighth-place finishes at the USC Upstate Invitational Saturday. Harper Henson paced the Eagle runners with an 18:52.3 time, good for 15th place among the women’s competitors. Will Metcalf-Shull led the men’s squad with a 27th-place time of 27:34.1.
The Winthrop/adidas Invitational is up next for the team, having been rescheduled from mid-September, due to Hurricane Florence. The event will take place this coming Friday, Oct. 5.
Soccer teams come up just short
Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams put forth game efforts over the weekend, despite falling in one-goal results.
The Winthrop women (7-3-1, 3-1 Big South) suffered their first conference setback of the season, falling 2-1 at Campbell Saturday. Arryana Daniels put home a header off a Keeley Leising assist in the 39th minute, but Campbell would post marks in the 56th and 80th minutes to take the match.
The women play twice this week, traveling to USC Upstate Wednesday evening and hosting Radford Saturday afternoon. The home match will kick off at 1 p.m.
The men, meanwhile, dropped a 1-0 decision to league-leading High Point Saturday at Eagle Field. The Panthers’ Ilias Kosmidis hit the net on a set-piece header off a Ryan Inman corner in the 43rd minute to provide the lone goal of the match. Winthrop (1-6, 0-2 Big South) turned away 4-of-5 shots on goal in the match.
The men’s team hits the road for two matches this week, facing Presbyterian Wednesday evening and UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon. The club will return to Eagle Field for a matchup with Gardner-Webb on Wednesday, Oct. 10.
Volleyball bounces back
After dropping mid-week matches to Radford and Presbyterian, the Eagle volleyball team nicely rebounded with a straight-sets victory (25-15, 25-8, 25-19) over Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon. Junior middle blocker Makayla Doyle paced the Eagle effort, tallying 12 kills and four blocks while hitting .391.
Winthrop (7-10, 3-2 Big South) will next travel to USC Upstate Friday and UNC Asheville Saturday for Big South matches. The team will return to Winthrop Coliseum next Saturday for a match with Hampton.