EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University's athletic program received national recognition in 2001 with 11 athletes earning All-America honors and two teams gaining NCAA tournament berths with one finishing as the national runner-up.

The year was filled with highlights achieved by many of the school's 450 athletes on 19 sports teams. The following ten are considered the most noteworthy based on a long-range view of which events will be remembered in the future.

10. - The men's volleyball team had three national statistical leaders led by libero Brian Harvey, who led all NCAA Division I and II players in digs with 264 for an average of 3.30 per game. Outside hitter Jason Hartzel was second in dig with 2.59 per game while middle blocker Tom Shaver was sixth in the nation in hitting with a .458 average.

9 - The men's track and field team had two championship high jumpers in freshman Mike Newhard, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion with a leap of 6-10, and Brad Fees, first in the ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships held at ESU with a 6-8 3/4 performance.

8 - Forward Justina Woolf was chosen as the PSAC Women's Soccer Player of the Year after leading the conference in scoring with 18 goals in 17 games. She scored a school-record five goals in a7-5 win over California. She finished her career with 59 goals, including 14 game-winners. She made the All-Northeast Region first team for the third straight year.

7 - The women's volleyball team repeated as the PSAC Eastern Division champions and posted an 18-10 record, best at the school in five years. Outside hitter April Mellott was selected on the All-Conference team for the third straight year.

6 First baseman Bryan Yagel smashed the school record for runs-batted-in with 63 and hit .430 for the hard-hitting baseball team. He made the All-Region first team. Shortstop Brett Reynolds set school marks for career runs with 159 and stolen bases with 51 and was a repeat All-PSAC selection.

5 - The 2000-2001 women's swimming team finished with a 9-2 record to a tie a school mark for most wins in a season . Senior Donna Gebhard had the team's best conference finish in 13 years with a fourth in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 24.96. Another senior, freestyler Erin Kowalik gained Verizon Academic All-America second team honors for her success in the pool and in the classroom (4.0 average in Recreation).

At the start of the current season, the Warriors unveiled a sensational freshman swimmer in Natalie Weingartner, a native of Thunder Bay, Canada, who broke five school records in the 50, 100 and 200-yard backstrokes, the 200 individual medley and the 200 breaststroke.

4 - The Warrior football team started the season with a last-minute 33-27 win over Clarion in the first ESYA College Football Classic and continued from there to post a 7-3 record, the school's best mark in eight years. The team placed second in the PSAC Eastern Division with a 5-1 record.

For the first time ever, two team members made the Associated Press Little All-America team with offensive guard Jim Sodano a second team selection and punter Adam Hostetter on the third team. Hostetter led the nation in punting with a 44.4-yard average and will be playing Cactus Bowl Division II All-Star Game Jan. 11 in Kingsville, Texas.

Other football standouts included running back Andre Castiglioni, who ran for 1,077 with a school-record seven 100-yard games; safety Jeremy Brown, who made eight interceptions, wide receiver John Kotarsky, who averaged 110.7 yards per game receiving, and quarterback Jeremy Palm, who passed for 22 touchdowns with only five interceptions.

3. High jumper Shavanna Ross earned indoor All-America honors while javelin thrower Jenn Grube and triple jumper Quanette Jester were outdoor All-Americas for a highly-successful women's track and field team.

' Ross placed sixth in the NCAA indoor championships with a leap of 5-5 3/4 and also was named the outstanding field performer at the ECAC indoor meet in which she won the high jump with a career-best 5-7 1/4 and the 500-meter dash in a school record 1:17.52

Grube repeated as an All-America by placing sixth in the javelin with a throw of 140-8 at the outdoor nationals. Jester unleashed a school-record 39-5 3/4 effort in placing seventh in the triple jump at the nationals.

The ESU 4 x 400-meter relay team of Jen Eye, Cheryl Griffin, Angela Gray and Ross won the PSAC title for the second straight year. Griffin was named the outstanding runner at the ECAC meet after winning both the 55 and 200-meter dashes. She also was a Verizon Academic All-America as a Summa Cum Laude graduate in English.

2 . Another season, another championship for the men's soccer team under Coach Jerry Sheska. The team won its fifth straight PSAC title and ninth in ten years by beating California, 2-1, in the championship game. Ahmet Kose booted in the game-winner with 7.20 remaining.

The ESU booters gained a berth in the NCAA tournament, but lost to Dowling, 2-0, in the first round. The team finished with a 16-5-1 record and was 15th in the final NCAA Division national poll. Sweeper back Sean Stewart was selected an National Soccer Coaches' Association All-America second team choice.

1. Three sensational wins carried the field hockey team to two best-ever finishes during the 2001 season. The Warriors beat Bloomsburg for the first time in 21 years, 2-1, during the regular season to gain a berth in the PSAC playoffs. They then edged Shippensburg, 2-1, in the conference semi-finals on an overtime goal by Antonia Giannapoulos, her second the game.

That put the Warriors in the PSAC championship game where they lost to Lock Haven, 4-0, but the runner-up finish was still the best in the school's history.

The team was selected for the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships, but they were paired against Lock Haven, ranked first in the nation with a 20-1 record in the semi-finals. The ranking and record didn't matter to ESU goalie Kelly Wagner, who made 12 saves in a sensational performance, and Sara Gorman's first-half goal gave the Warriors a stunning 1-0 upset victory.

In the finals, host Bentley beat ESU, 4-2, to leave Coach Sandy Miller's team in second place, still the school's best NCAA women's finish in any sport. The team's final record was 16-7.

Midfielder Rachel Miller made the All-America first team while midfielder Shannon McCracken and Wagner were second team choices.

***

And honorable mention to 1,000-point men's basketball scorer Juwan Justice, 20-win wrestlers Brad Kleckner (141), Dan Roy (174), an ESU Open champion, and Marc Bauknecht (285), attack wing player Kim Niles, who set a school career record for assists, Deana Geist, top hitter on a vastly improved softball team, and Tiffany Barnes, who was named the tournament's outstanding player after leading the women's basketball team to the Rotary Pocono Classic title.

###