Spring Break
Life turned UMKC senior Stephen Clark on his head at the age of 12. He was playing soccer, his first love, when he was seriously injured. No worries for this Scottish citizen though. He took up golf instead. As it turned out, the switch in loyalties turned out pretty well.
As most UMKC soccer fans were painfully aware during the fall season, the keeper of the pouch is not the most informed man about the world's most popular international sport. Spending days and nights devouring the Baseball Encyclopedia and pouring over the pages of Pro Football Digest during his adolescent years left little time for other endeavors.
Playing in a climate more suitable to his game, UMKC senior Michael Clark shot into a fifth place tie on March 7 and 8 at the Colorado/Stevinson Ranch Invitational in Stevinson, Calif. Clark, who hails from Scotland, a country known for its wind and rain took advantage of the high winds in California as he shot a three-round total of 217 (75-73-69).
Freshman catcher Lauren Rodrigues was raised to compete since she was a toddler. "There are pictures of me on a horse before I could even walk," Rodrigues said. "I started riding competitively when I was 7 years old. I've won trophies, ribbons, all of that.
"Winning that first match was a huge lift for us, it wasn't a monkey on our back, it was King Kong," UMKC head tennis coach Kendell Hale said following the women's victory over Centenary that snapped a 58-match losing streak. In his first year at the helm of the men's and women's tennis program, the former Rockhurst head coach is making noise.
Knocking off Centenary College (CC) and Indian University Purdue University-Fort Wayne (IPFW) 4-0 on successive days propelled the UMKC Men's Tennis team into the Summit League Championships at the end of the month. The Kangaroos will be the No. 3 seed in the four team field that will square off on April 25 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Gettinger grabs pair of awards UMKC redshirt junior basketball player Brian Gettinger who announced last month he would not return for his final year of eligibility picked up some good news this week. Gettinger learned he had been selected to the NCAA Divion I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Team.
