College Roundup Another NCAA track trophy for McDonnell, Arkansas

By John Manley

It’s been a long time since John McDonnell could count on his fingers the number of NCAA championship trophies his Arkansas Razorbacks have won. Last weekend in Indianapolis, they took the Indoor Championship for the 15th time when they outpointed Stanford, 65-42.50. The Razorbacks accomplished this despite only one individual victory, that in the triple jump. The team’s depth got them on the board in several other events and paved the way.

The Razorbacks now have 32 championship trophies in the vault, including last fall’s cross-country title. McDonnell, who is a native of Crossmolina, Co. Mayo, reportedly turned down a very handsome offer from the University of Oregon last year to remain in Fayetteville.

Women’s Basketball

Susan Moran gets her first taste of NCAA playoff action when St. Joseph’s (Pa.) faces Tulane at Durham, N.C., on Saturday at 6 p.m. St. Joe’s, which earned an automatic berth by winning the Atlantic 10 Conference championship, is seeded 11th in the East bracket. Tulane is seeded sixth. Moran, a freshman forward, is from Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

Tennis

Brown’s Nick Malone continues to impress in his freshman campaign. Malone, by way of Greystones, Co. Wicklow, rolled to victories in both doubles and singles play in three recent matches. Brown’s 7-0 defeat of Connecticut saw Malone downing Jason Palleschi, 6-3, 6-0, at fourth singles, and teaming with Sharad Kohli to post an 8-3 victory over Luke Grimshaw and Bryan Adinolfi at third doubles. Malone handled Rutgers’ David Birnbaum, 6-4, 6-2, in a fourth singles showdown, and joined Kohli to derail Joey Muscatirello and Chris Kushner at third doubles, 8-4. Brown won the match, 5-2. The Bears then had their way with another New Jersey team, when Fairleigh Dickinson came its way. Malone came away with a victory at third singles over Juan David Quinones, 6-2, 6-1, and moved up to first doubles with Kohli, where they defeated Alvaro Etcheberry and Kwame Chubucu, 8-3. Brown won the match, 7-0.

Harvard’s duo of Dublin juniors, John Doran and Joe Green, smoothed the way for the 16th-ranked Crimson to enjoy a 7-0 pasting of Penn State. Doran took care of Marc Dorfman at second singles, 6-4, 6-3, while Green stirred Jeff Martini, 7-5, 6-1. Doran also joined Cillie Swart at third doubles for an 8-5 victory over Mike Griesser and Marc McCallister.

The California Golden Bears are the nation’s fourth-ranked women’s team, and Dublin junior Claire Curran has been providing strength in both singles and doubles play. Curran and Anita Kurimay are ranked 14th among doubles teams, and in a 5-4 victory over sixth-ranked Texas they won their match over Laura Berendt and Michelle Faucher, 8-2. The Longhorns’ Rebekah Forney managed a three-sets victory over Curran at fifth singles, 7-6, 2-7, 6-3. Curran moved up to fourth singles against fifth-ranked Stanford, which resulted once again in a 5-4 Cal victory. Curran defeated Lauren Kalvaria, 7-5, 6-1. Curran and Kurimay, however, lost their doubles appointment with Kalvaria and Gabriela Lastra, 8-4.

The Pac-10’s Arizona contingent then paid a call to Berkeley, with the home team registering 9-0 victories on both occasions. Curran played the fourth slot in both matches, defeating Arizona’s Michelle Gough, 6-3, 6-4, and Arizona State’s Kerry Giardino, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Mississippi State’s Eimear Sloan experienced mixed results in three recent matches. The Dublin junior helped the 50th-ranked Lady Tigers defeat 44th-ranked Louisiana State, 5-1. Sloan came through at third singles with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Fernanda Tsucamoto. Sloan was less successful against Kentucky’s Kelly Brown, who posted a 6-2, 7-5 win in a fourth singles match. The 23rd-ranked Wildcats won the match, 5-4. Sloan was back in form when the Lady Tigers opposed 60th-ranked Auburn. She mastered Summa Edwards at fourth singles, 6-3, 6-1, and joined Amelie Detriviere at second doubles for an 8-2 win over Simone Jardim and Carolina Mauter. Miss State took the match, 6-3.

Golf

The top-ranked Clemson Tigers pulled out a win in the San Juan Shoot-Out at the Rio Mar Country Club in Puerto Rico. Belfast freshman Michael Hoey tied for 12th place in the 90-man field, after leading through the first 18 holes. Hoey finished 4-under at 212 (67-70-75), which was seven strokes off the co-medalists, East Tennessee State’s David Christensen and Clemson’s John Engler. Eamonn Brady, an ETSU senior from Dublin, tied for 37th place at 222 (73-74-75). Matt Kuchar, the Georgia Tech phenom who made a splash in last year’s majors, tied for 20th place with a 214. Clemson topped the 18-school field with 830. Georgia Tech was close behind at 834, with ETSU and Georgia deadlocked at third with 858.

California’s Dan Coyle came alive in the third and final round of the John Burns Intercollegiate, held at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course in Kaneohe, Hawaii. After two rounds of even-par 72, Coyle dug low for a 67, which moved him up to a tie for 18th place among 109 starters. The Dundalk senior’s 211 was eight strokes removed from Michael Kirk’s 203, which topped the leaderboard. Kirk and his Nevada-Las Vegas mates won the tournament. California tied for eighth place.