Strong Winter Lifted Ashland To Lead In Presidents’ Cup Chase

Winning an all-sports championship at any level is a team effort – every team, in fact. In 2022-23, Ashland University's athletic department won its first Great Midwest Athletic Conference Presidents' Cup championship – the athletic department's first conference all-sports title in a quarter century. And in order to win the Presidents' Cup, Ashland athletics needed every single point it earned – from all 23 teams which scored in conference-sponsored sports during the past school year.
 
Over a three-day period, GoAshlandEagles.com will take a look at how it happened, continuing today with the 2022-23 winter season.
 
FINAL 2022-23 POINT TOTAL: 170
FALL 2022 POINT TOTAL: 50
WINTER 2022-23 POINT TOTAL: 56

• 13 – women's basketball
• 11 – men's basketball
• 10 – women's indoor track and field
• 10 – men's indoor track and field
• 4 – STUNT
• 4 – wrestling
• 2 – women's swimming and diving
• 2 – men's swimming and diving

SPRING 2023 POINT TOTAL: 64
 
LEAGUE TITLES, STRONG FINISHES HELP AU TO CUP LEAD THROUGH WINTER
For the purposes of calculating Presidents' Cup points, Ashland's conference titles came from women's basketball and STUNT, while men's basketball finished second (and eventually won the Great Midwest Tournament championship), as did wrestling. Through the winter, the Eagles were atop the Presidents' Cup standings with 106 points, 14 points ahead of second-place Findlay (92) and 20.5 points ahead of third-place Walsh (85.5).
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RUNS GREAT MIDWEST TABLE EN ROUTE TO NATIONAL TITLE
On the way to the program's third NCAA Division II national championship, and its second 37-0 finish, Ashland's women's basketball team went 20-0 during the league regular season, then won all three league tournament games. All but one of AU's in-conference wins were by double digits, and 11 were by at least 30 points. In two seasons in the Great Midwest, regular season and postseason combined, the Eagles are 46-1 in league contests.

STUNT EARNS NATION'S FIRST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
The first-in-the-nation STUNT conference championship was contested at Kates Gymnasium on April 1, and Ashland's STUNT team made history by winning the first-in-the-nation STUNT conference title. The timing couldn't have been better, since, if the Great Midwest hadn't decided to have a STUNT tournament in 2023, the Eagle athletic department wouldn't have won the Presidents' Cup…
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL GROWS INTO CONFERENCE CONTENDER, LEAGUE TOURNAMENT CHAMPION
A nearly-completely-new roster in 2022-23 for Eagle men's basketball caught fire after a slow start, including seven straight wins within the Great Midwest in December and January. After finishing tied for second in the regular-season standings (but getting second-place Cup points on a tiebreaker), Ashland's men went 3-0 and won the 2023 Great Midwest Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA playoffs. Three highlights of the season were three wins – at home, on the road, and at a neutral site – against nationally-ranked Hillsdale.
 
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD REMAINS IN UPPER HALF OF CONFERENCE IN RELOADING YEAR
Ashland's men's and women's indoor track and field teams provided the athletic program ample Presidents' Cup points by finishing third and fourth, respectively, at the league meet, contested at the Niss Athletic Center. Every point mattered at that meet, as well, as the Eagle women finished fourth by 1.5 points over fifth-place Tiffin.
 
WRESTLING TAKES SECOND PLACE IN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS AT HOME
The first home winter Great Midwest Championship in 2022-23 was wrestling, and the Eagles finished second in a tightly-contested meet at the top. Ashland's 76.5 team points were four more than third-place Tiffin (72.5). The Eagle grapplers did their part in the Presidents' Cup chase, as they stayed right behind Findlay, who won the league wrestling tournament – Ashland beat the Oilers in the Cup race by a single point.
 
SWIMMING AND DIVING'S CUP POINTS AT LEAGUE MEET KEY AT THE END
As was the case with the wrestling team, Ashland's men's and women's swimming and diving teams stayed right behind first-place Findlay at the conference meet, scoring two points each to help AU bring home the Presidents' Cup.
  Women's basketball – Senior forward Annie Roshak (Player of the Year and first team), fifth-year guard Hallie Heidemann (first team and All-Defensive Team), sophomore forward Hayley Smith (first team), sophomore forward Zoe Miller (second team), and junior guard Savaya Brockington (All-Defensive Team).
 
Men's basketball – Senior guard Brandon Haraway (Player of the Year, first team and All-Defensive Team), freshman guard Simon Wheeler (Freshman of the Year), and junior center Victor Searls (second team).
 
Men's indoor track and field – Fifth-year Storm Elsesser (Men's Field Athlete of the Meet and first team), junior Wyatt Cory (first team), freshman Derrick Amapps (first team), sophomore Colin Roberts (first team), junior Jacob Pielech (first team), sophomore Noah Wood (first team), and sophomore Caden Morris (third team).
 
Women's indoor track and field – Fifth-year Carrol Pauley (Women's Field Athlete of the Year and first team), fifth-year Cheyanne Davis (first team), senior Macy Creamer (first team), freshman Jade Avance (first team), sophomore Mia Gardner (first team), junior Emma Liberatore (second team), junior Kaylin Martin (third team), and sophomore Kelsey Kinsley (third team).
 
STUNT – Denise Farnsworth (co-Coach of the Year), junior flyer/tumbler Lily Boldman (Player of the Year and first team), freshman flyer/tumbler Emily Keeling (Freshman of the Year), sophomore flyer/tumbler Kylie Adams (first team), senior back/tumbler Karlee Rice (second team), senior base/tumbler Shila Hartzler (second team), senior base/tumbler Kayla Pitts (second team), and sophomore flyer/tumbler Alyssa McLaughlin (second team).
 
Wrestling – Freshman 174-pounder Nate Barrett (Freshman of the Year and first team), junior 165-pounder Drew Wiechers (first team), senior 184-pounder Daniel Beemer (first team), sophomore 197-pounder Walker Uhl (first team), freshman 165-pounder Sevriano Garza (second team), junior 174-pounder Corbin May (second team), senior 285-pounder Ty Petrey (second team), and junior 157-pounder Nick Carbone (third team).
 
Men's swimming and diving – Junior Josh Hagan (Men's Elite 26 Award, second team and third team), freshman Joey Lenczyk (Men's Diver of the Meet and first team), senior Joe Cummins (second team), senior Amar Sapcanin (second team), freshman Andrew Oates (second team), freshman Nick Girz (second team), freshman Cole Huebner (second team), senior Franci Aleksi (second team), freshman Jason Basile (second team), and freshman Nick Olquin (second team).
 
Women's swimming and diving – Freshman Maddi Whitticar (Women's Diver of the Meet and first team), senior Abby Locke (first team and second team), senior Makayla Tarkenton (third team), junior Sydney Porinchok (third team), senior Sydney Laughlin (third team), freshman Jillian Hull (first team), junior Emma Okuma (third team), freshman Mary Kate Prall (third team), freshman Megan Tomasic (third team), senior Madi Baron (third team), and freshman Paige Nicholson (third team).