College Roundup: Butler’s Frazer, Loyola’s Conroy win at Horizon meet

Taking fourth place was Loyola senior Robert Wade, who came in at 14:47.90. Wade hails from Portlaw, Co. Waterford. Conroy, a senior from Cork, won the mile in 4:19.41. He also tried the 1,000 meters, finishing third in 2:30.71. Butler’s Thomas Frazer, the brother of John, was second in the same race, timed in 2:28.36. First to finish was Butler’s Andrew Sherman in 2:27.96. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with 197 points, was crowned top team. Loyola (83 points) was third and Butler (59), fourth.
Providence senior Liam Reale won the 1,000 meters at the Big East Championships at Syracuse’s Carrier Dome. Reale, from Hospital, Co. Limerick, finished in 2:24.58. Teammate Pat Guidera, from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, was 12th at 5,000 meters with a time of 15:10.37. Georgetown?s Rod Koborsi had a winning time of 14:20.22. The Friars finished seventh among teams, with Notre Dame leading the pack.
Southern Illinois’ Joe Byrne was victorious at 5,000 meters at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships. The junior from Downpatrick, Co. Down, broke the tape in 14:33.68. He also tried 3,000 meters, placing fourth, timed in 8:30.01. Teammate Tony LaChiana led the field home in 8:26.62. SIU came in fourth in the team standings, which was led by Northern Iowa.
DePaul’s Gavin Kennedy ran to third- and fifth-place finishes in the mile and 3,000 meters, respectively, at the Conference USA meet in Houston. The senior from Waterford finished behind Texas Christian’s Kip Kangogo in both races. The mile found Kennedy finishing in 4:12.33 (against Kangogo’s 4:07.89), while he got the 3,000 meters in 8:38.71 (against Kangogo?s 8:24.03). Houston won the team title, with DePaul placing seventh.
East Tennessee State’s Peter Dalton finished eighth at 3,000 and ninth at 5,000 in the Southern Conference Championships at Johnson City, Tenn. The Dublin sophomore came home in 8:40.54 in the shorter race (which was won by Chattanooga’s Steven Kocsis in 8:21.77) and in 15:21.18 at 5,000 meters (which Kocsis also won in 14:41.70). ETSU finished fourth among teams, with Appalachian State taking top honors.
McNeese State junior Alan Foolkes tore a page from Dalton’s script, only he was ninth at 3,000 and eighth at 5,000 at the Southland Conference shindig in Houston. Foolkes, from Cork, finished the 3,000 in 8:48.82 (won by Stephen F. Austin’s Julian Acuna in 8:31.50) and completed the 5,000 in 15:27.43 (also won by Acuna, in 14:47.39). McNeese placed fourth among teams, with Austin ruling the roost.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Aine O’Dwyer had the rim squarely lined up in the crosshairs as she shot a perfect 9-for-9 from the field and 1-for-1 from the line for 19 points to lead New Jersey Institute of Technology to an easy 73-40 win over Nyack College. The Killenaule, Co. Tipperary, sophomore pulled off this feat while playing just 12 minutes. She also had 6 rebounds. In NJIT’s previous game, a 68-64 win over Dominican, O’Dwyer scored 8 points on 4-for-11 shooting, while grabbing 8 points and making off with 3 steals. The Highlanders (17-10, 16-6 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference) then drubbed Georgian Court, 82-52, to run their win streak to five, while taking 12 of their last 14 games. O’Dwyer was held to 6 points.
Jacksonville State’s Ann-Marie Healy played 39 minutes of her team’s 60-57 win over Samford, but the 6-foot-3 junior center from Killenaule, Co. Tipperary, really began working at the 5:21 mark of the second half. That’s when she pulled off a steal that led to a bucket that whittled the Samford lead to 3. A minute later, another Healy theft led to another basket for JSU. Then, with 2:09 left and JSU up by a point, Healy nailed a jumper to put her side up by 3. She was then fouled with 4 seconds to play and JSU up by one. She canned both free throws to salt the victory. For the game, she had 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting from the floor to go with the two foul shots. She also came down with 7 rebounds, had 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. Subsequently, JSU (14-12, 9-6 Ohio Valley Conference) defeated Longwood, 73-67, with Healy contributing 11 points and 5 rebounds.
Niamh Dwyer was high scorer with 25 points as Monmouth slapped Quinnipiac, 69-57. The junior from Thurles, Co. Tipperary, shot 8-for-16 from the floor, including 3-for-7 from the deep end, and 6-for-6 from the stripe. Her 8 rebounds and 3 assists were also team highs and her 4 steals were matched by one other Hawk. Earlier, Monmouth defeated Wagner, 71-58. Dwyer’s 19 points led all scorers. Dwyer also led Monmouth with 8 rebounds and 4 assists in a 56-45 victory over St. Francis of Brooklyn. She scored 12 points.
Bray, Co. Wicklow, freshman Emer Foley scored 14 points as Southern Mississippi suffered a 79-49 humiliation at the hands of Tulane.

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Davidson won last week over Citadel, 75-68, and Wofford, 61-45. Starting forward Conor Grace, a senior from Dublin, had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals against Citadel. Against Wofford, Grace, limited by fould trouble, scored 6 points.
Chris Butler, a6-8 junior from Ballymena, threw in 15 points to help St. Thomas Aquinas knock off Molloy, 92-86. The Spartans also defeated Bridgeport, 99-93, with Butler scoring 19.
Barry Kelleher, a senior from Cork, wrapped up his career at Mount Aloysius with 5 points in a 130-106 loss to Pitt-Johnstown.
Michael Westbrooks and his Colby teammates ended the season with a 99-88 loss to Tufts in a New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal game. The Dublin junior accounted for 9 of the Mules’ points

TENNIS
Georgia Southern’s Ciara Finucane split a pair of singles matches at the second slot last week, while sweeping two double matches at first position with Szilvia Zsakay. The Dublin sophomore defeated Charleston Southern’s Bec Franzi, 6-3, 6-3, and teamed with Zsakay to polish off Franzi and Meryam Tazi, 8-5, to contribute to a 5-2 Georgia Southern victory. The tables were then turned by Winthrop, 6-1 victors over GSU. Danielle Moita spanked Finucane, 6-2, 6-0, although Finucane and Zsakay defeated Ana Novaes and Ana Simanca, 9-7.
Colin O’Brien triumphed at third singles over Eric Vogel, 6-1, 6-0, to help William & Mary to a 7-0 win over George Mason. O’Brien is a sophomore from Dublin.
Notre Dame’s Barry King, a sophomore from Dublin, enjoyed a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over Michigan State’s Nick Rinks in action at third singles.