Edition 8

Awards and Recognition

School Comes First

Here at Butler, student-athletes excel in the classroom. The average GPA among the Butler student-athletes this past year was 3.14. We had 18 student-athletes own a 4.0 GPA, and three student-athletes received Academic All-American recognition for their success in the classroom as well.

Academic All-America

From the men's track team, Kent Wories and Andy Baker were named Academic All-America.

Men's basketball's  Matt Howard was selected for the 2008-09 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America University Division Men's Basketball Team, chosen by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America). Out of the 15 players selected to the national honor squad, Howard was the only sophomore chosen.  

Since 1981, Butler has had 31 student-athletes earn Academic All-America recognition, including five in the past two years (with Wories capturing the honor twice).

2008-09 NCAA Public Recognition Award

Butler's women's basketball, golf and tennis teams earned national recognition for their hard work in the classroom this past season.  The teams earned the 2008-09 NCAA Public Recognition Award for their most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. Butler was one of only three schools in the Horizon League to have at least three teams earn the award. A total of 767 teams were honored by the NCAA that represented 205 different Division I institutions, making up 11.9 percent of the approximately 6,484 Division I programs.  There were 41 women's basketball teams, 47 women's golf teams and 58 women's tennis teams that were presented with the award by ranking in the top 10 percent of their respective sport.

Eight Student-Athletes Named to the Winter Academic All-League Teams

Men's Basketball: Zach Hahn owns a 3.648 GPA in secondary education and Matt Howard - a 2009 CoSIDA Academic All-American - boasts a 3.727 GPA as a finance major.

Swimming: Sarah Lynne Gates owns a 3.771 GPA as a pharmacy major. Katie Krueger, a criminology and psychology major, maintained a 3.835.  Leigh Weston earned a 3.736 GPA as a chemistry major.

Men's Indoor Track Team:  Kent Wories, a finance major touts a 3.956 GPA. Graduate students Andy Baker and Tommy Davies earned a 3.818 GPA in business and a 3.699 in education, respectively.

Student-athletes who graduated in May 2009

Tyler Tepe - Baseball
Michael Bennett - Football
Jared Brayon - Football
Derek Day - Football
Chase Donner - Football
Mark Kwiatkowski - Football
Rob Noel - Football
Eric Notestine - Football
Robert Person - Football
Jordan Quiroz - Football
Ryan Schmidtz - Football
Tommy Davies - Men's Cross Country/Track
Kent Wories - Men's Cross Country/Track
Joe Wienman - Men's Soccer
Alex Boros - Softball
Macy McMullen - Softball
Chloe' Blasingame - Volleyball
Dana Daprille - Volleyball
Nina Inic - Volleyball
Lade Akande - Women's Basketball
Tara Miller - Women's Basketball
Jaqueline Lennartz - Women's Cross Country/Track
Amanda Zolman - Women's Cross Country/Track
Lauren Showers - Women's Golf
Jenny Southard - Women's Soccer 

Track Athlete of the Year

Stephen Lisgo was named Horizon League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and earned All-America honors at the NCAA Track Championship.

Recap on Sports

Baseball

Freshman Mike Hernandez, a right-handed pitcher, was named to the 2009 Horizon League All-Newcomer Team after leading the Bulldogs in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts.  Hernandez is from Crown Point, Ind.

Softball

The softball team won 13 of their final 19 games -  including three in the Horizon League Tournament. The Bulldogs finished fourth in the tournament. They had 26 wins for the year, matching Butler's single season record set in 1982 and 1997.

Men's Tennis

The Bulldogs finished out the regular season with a 5-2 record in the Horizon League.  Bryce Warren and Brandon Bayliss, both sophomores, were named to the 2009 All-Horizon League Men's Tennis Teams.

Women's Tennis 

The Butler women's tennis team finished the regular season with a 7-1 record in conference play.

Sophomores Gabriella Bobrowski and Natali Jaimes and junior Molly Casperson were named to the 2009 All-Horizon League Women's Tennis Team.

The women's tennis team was also one of the three Butler teams to earn a NCAA Public Recognition award. The team received national recognition for their academic accomplishments. Fifty-eight tennis programs earned 2008-09 NCAA Public Recognition Awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. The women's basketball and golf teams also received this recognition. The awards were given to teams that rank in the top 10 percent of all programs in their respective sports.

Women's Swimming

The Butler women's swimming team completed a record-setting 2008-09 campaign at the Horizon League Championship and the Bulldogs went on to post a school record.  Five student-athletes posted swims that rank among the top-10 in school history, including a school record in the 200 IM by senior Sarah Lynne Gates.

Three swimmers also earned Academic All-Horizon League honors.  Gates owns a 3.771 GPA as a pharmacy major, senior Katie Krueger, a criminology and psychology major, maintained a 3.835 GPA and sophomore Leigh Weston earned a 3.736 GPA as a chemistry major.

Women's Golf

The Bulldogs captured the Big Four Title by having four team members in the top five at a tournament held at Crooked Stick Country Club. The women's golf team placed fifth in the Horizon League Championship.

Men's Golf

Butler's men's golf team finished sixth in the Horizon League Championship this year.  The team recently returned from a trip to Scotland this past month.

Women's Cross Country/Track

Receiving academic recognition, Butler's women ranked 42nd in the nation with a 3.486 team grade point average. The Bulldogs were one of a record 160 Division I women's teams to be honored as an All-Academic Team.

Men's Cross Country/Track

Butler sent three student-athletes to the NCAA Championship, including Steve Lisgo, Joe MacDonald and Kris Gauson.  Lisgo was also named the Horizon League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.

The men's team ranked 21st in the nation with a team grade point average of 3.363.

Kent Wories and Andy Baker were named to the  CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team.  Baker boasted a 3.87 grade point average as a business major, while Wories graduated this past May with a 3.94 grade point average in finance.

Men's Basketball

The men's basketball team claimed the Horizon League regular season title this year and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight season.

Freshmen Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack were selected to play on the 2009 USA U-19 World Championship Team. The team will participate at the FIBA U19 World Championships in New Zealand from July 2-12.

Sophomore Matt Howard was named the Horizon League's Player of the Year and earned a spot on both the All-League First Team and the All-Defensive Team.  He was also named to the CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America University Division Men's Basketball Team, touting a 3.727 GPA as a finance major.

Head coach Brad Stevens received the Hugh Durham Award mid-season coaching honor, which is given annually by CollegeInsider.com to the top mid-major coach in America.

Women's Basketball

The women's basketball team tallied its second-straight 20-win campaign, tied the school record for most conference wins in a season, posted their highest finish in the league standings in over a decade and advanced to post season play for the first time since 1998.  Butler's 14-4 Horizon League record in 2008-09 was the program's best conference mark since the 1997-98 season, while the 14 wins tied the 1992-93 squad for the most league victories in school history.

Coach Beth Couture earned her 100^th win of her career at Butler with a 68-49 decision at UIC on Feb. 12.

FYI

Hall of Fame Banquet

This was a great event. Six former student-athletes were inducted into Butler's Hall of Fame during the Hall of Fame dinner that took place on June 7.  The inductees included Harry Muta (Football, 1973-75), Lori Adams Mosley (volleyball 1986-89), Arnold Mickens (football, 1994-95), Jon Neuhouser (men's basketball, 1995-98), Joy Aschenbrener Sweeney (women's soccer, 1995-98), and Sarah Schuetz Stremlow (women's basketball, 1995-98).

Golfest

In case you were unable to make it out to our annual Golfest, the event proved successful again in 2009. We had 218 participants this year and more than 50 sponsors supporting the event.  Golfers expected to get rained on, but the wet weather held off. No umbrellas were necessary which allowed for some great golf to be played

 
The winning team with a 53 from the Men's Division on the North
Course - J.T. Huxford, Greg Waddell, Eric Harvey and John Abbott.

 
Head Men's Basketball Coach Brad Stevens (center) poses for a
picture with the team of Jim Eckels, Bob Todd, Ron Schulte and
Gerald Spranger. 

Don Benbow Bows Out...Sort Of

On behalf of Butler's Athletic Department, I would like to thank Don Benbow for his tremendous contribution to Butler University.   Don has been a great asset to Butler Athletics over the years as he has demonstrated The Butler Way throughout his career and legacy as a Butler Bulldog. The Butler Way demands commitment, denies selfishness and accepts reality, yet seeks constant improvement while promoting the good of the team above self. Don's significant role at Butler as a student-athlete, coach and administrator is certainly something to be celebrated. If you would like to accompany us by celebrating Don's memorable career The Butler Way, there will be a retirement gathering in the Wildman Room Tuesday, July 14 at 5 p.m.  

Although Don is retiring he will still be a part of Butler Athletics. He will spend three to four days assisting with the men's golf team and plans on playing golf during his free time.

New Facilities

These new facilities will allow our teams to practice together on Butler's campus.

Three new tennis courts have been added to Butler's campus.

The new hitting and training facility will be used by softball, baseball and golf teams.

There will be a putting area, and batting cages for baseball and softball. There will also be cages for golf as well.

Team Travels

Just as the volleyball team traveled to Nicaragua last spring, a few other Butler teams will be earning stamps on their passports this year.

The men's basketball team will be traveling to Italy Aug. 4-13. The team will play four exhibition games while overseas.  They will fly into Milan and will be spending time in Lake Como, Venice, Florence and Rome.

The women's basketball team will travel to Cancun, Mexico to participate in the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic.  The Thanksgiving Classic will take place Nov. 26-28 at Kuchil Baxal Gymnasium.

The men's golf team also traveled to Scotland in June.

More Coverage

Comcast has picked up ESPNU.  Butler fans who use Comcast as their primary cable provider will now be able to watch the games broadcasted on ESPNU.

A Special Thank You

I would like to especially thank our fans for such outstanding support over the years.  The top attended event in 2008-09 was the men's basketball game against Milwaukee with 9,418 supporters.

Go Dogs!

Barry Collier

Athletic Director
Butler University

The Butler Way... demands commitment, denies selfishness, accepts reality, yet seeks constant improvement while promoting the good of the team above self.

ARCHIVES
Edition 1 (July 3, 2007)
Edition 2 (Aug. 27, 2007)
Edition 3 (Oct. 25, 2007)
Edition 4 (Nov. 29, 2007)
Edition 5 (Jan. 15, 2008)
Edition 6 (July 7, 2008)
Edition 7 (Dec. 23, 2008)