TAMUC – Sports

 

SOFTBALL

Mariah Jameyson named Division II Softball Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year.

AUSTIN – Texas A&M University-Commerce catcher Mariah Jameyson has been named the Division II Softball Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year, as announced Wednesday. The nation’s top student-athletes receive the award for her combined performances on the field and in the classroom.

“CoSIDA Academic All-America® has always been my favorite award for the players,” said A&M-Commerce head softball coach Richie Bruister. “It not only represents what they have done on the field but in the classroom. They take both into equal consideration. These student-athletes are the best of the best, and that describes Mariah to a tee. For Mariah to win, in my opinion, the most prestigious award that an individual can get, it is truly outstanding. She was the best of the best on the field and in the classroom. It is a testament to her work ethic. She not only brought that mindset to the field, but to her studies. To do that takes the ultimate discipline that you can have as a student-athlete.”

Jameyson – a senior from Seattle, Wash. – earns her third All-America award of the season and the sixth of her career after a stellar 2018 season for the Lions. She was named the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association (D2CCA) National Player of the Year as well as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Catcher of the Year. She was a top-10 finalist for NFCA National Player of the Year.

Jameyson was also named a First Team All-American by both the D2CCA and the NFCA. She was named D2CCA South Central Region Player of the Year, was selected as a First Team All-Region player by both organizations and was named Lone Star Conference Player of the Year. Jameyson also was called a First Team All-Conference player and was a member of the All-Academic team.

Jameyson finished the regular season as the nation’s leader in on-base percentage, was second in batting average, slugging percentage and RBIs, third in total bases, fourth in walks and fifth in home runs. Jameyson’s batting average was nearly .100 points better than any other player in the LSC. Jameyson also had an on-base percentage more than .100 points higher than any other LSC player. She was also the only hitter in the LSC to finish the season with a slugging percentage over 1.000. Jameyson led the LSC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBIs, hits, and walks. She has had the game-winning RBI in 14 different games this season.

Jameyson’s play both as a batter and behind the plate as a catcher helped propel the Lion softball team to the greatest season in program history. The team finished the season with 42 wins, a program record. The team advanced to the South Central Super Regional Championship series, also a first in program history. Jameyson helped lead the team to the nation’s top ranking in organization on-base percentage. The Lions finished the season second in the nation in home runs, third in slugging percentage, fourth in scoring average and sixth in batting average.

In addition to her on-the-field accolades, Jameyson was also a model student at Texas A&M-Commerce. She has been named to the Dean’s List once, President’s List twice, Best in Class honor roll twice, Athletic Director’s List once, Lone Star Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll three times and was a 2017 Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete as well as a 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-District® selection. She graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies.

She is the first-ever Academic All-America® of the Year selection in A&M-Commerce history, and the 12th-ever Academic All-America®. Six Lions have earned first-team Academic All-America®.

The Division II Google Cloud Academic All-America® program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2017-18 Division II Academic All-America® teams.

2017-18 Academic All-America ® Softball Team Division II

FIRST TEAM
Pos.	Name	School	Yr.	GPA	Major
P	Jamie Fisher	Northern State	Jr.	4.00	Elementary Education
P	Valerie Hohol	Minnesota-Duluth	Sr.	4.00	Chemical Engineering
C	Mariah Jameyson	A&M-Commerce	Sr.	3.77	Kinesiology & Sport Studies
INF	Bethany Allen	Henderson State	Sr.	4.00	Recreation / Sports Management
INF	Megan Durante	Tarleton State	Sr.	3.90	Kinesiology
INF	Hannah Thieroff	California Baptist	Jr.	3.73	Criminal Justice
INF	Alyssa Williamson (3)	Merrimack	Sr.	3.90	Psychology
OF	Abi Corbett (2)	Missouri Southern State	Sr.	4.00	Marketing
OF	Riley Curtis	Urbana	Sr.	4.00	Pre-Med / Physical Therapy
OF	Brooke Hodgson	Colorado Mesa	Sr.	3.39	Kinesiology / K-12 Education
DP	Hannah Coursey (3)	Georgia College	Sr.	4.00	Accounting

SECOND TEAM
Pos.	Name	School	Yr.	GPA	Major
P	Allie Grys	Grand Valley State	Sr.	3.91	Clinical Exercise Science
P	Mallory Teunissen	Davenport	Jr.	3.92	Human Resource Management
C	Jessica Brown	Cal State San Bernardino	Sr.	3.80	Kinesiology
INF	Kylie Asmus	Ashland	Jr.	4.00	Exercise Science
INF	Clara Larson	Colorado School of Mines	So.	3.69	Electrical Engineering
INF	Brenna Martini (1,#)	Adelphi	Sr.	3.83	Physical Education
INF	Hazel Puempel	Texas Woman’s	So.	4.00	Business Administration
INF	Destiny Riddle	Southeastern Oklahoma State	Jr.	4.00	Psychology
OF	Holland Coursey	Georgia College	Sr.	3.94	Accounting
OF	Christa Reisinger (3)	Truman State	Jr.	3.70	Agricultural Science
OF	Whitney Weber	Colorado-Colorado Springs	Sr.	3.95	Criminal Justice
DP	Alyssa Carney	Washburn	Sr.	4.00	Kinesiology

THIRD TEAM
Pos.	Name	School	Yr.	GPA	Major
P	Alexis Eastman	Le Moyne	Sr.	3.71	Accounting
P	McKenzie Surface	Colorado Mesa	Jr.	3.89	Psychology
C	Katelyn Wobken	Wayne State (Neb.)	Sr.	3.92	Chemistry / Health Science
INF	Sara Ercolani (3)	West Chester	Sr.	3.93	Math / Actuarial Science
INF	Mariah Ewy	East Central	Jr.	4.00	Biology
INF	Becky Smith	Minnesota-Duluth	Sr.	3.72	Environmental Science
OF	Jessica Boone	Northeastern State	Sr.	3.99	Elementary Education
OF	Abbey Fortin	LIU Post	So.	3.92	Criminal Justice
OF	Delaney Hiegert	Newman	Sr.	4.00	Communication
DP	Marley Parker	Saint Augustine’s	Sr.	3.87	Exercise Science

Google Cloud Academic All-America® of the Year: Mariah Jameyson, Texas A&M University-Commerce

(1) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team selection in 2017
(2) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® second team selection in 2017
(3) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® third team selection in 2017
(#) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team selection in 2016

Texas A&M University-Commerce CoSIDA Academic All-Americas by Year

Year	Player	Sport	Team
1972	Will Cureton	Football	2nd
1977	Mike Hall	Football	1st
1994	Tammy Scott	Track & Field	2nd
1994	Andrea Hines	Women’s Basketball	2nd
2002	Summer Sparnon	Women’s Basketball	1st
2011	Taylor Fore	Football	1st
2012	Desmond King	Men’s Basketball	1st
2012	Andrew Davis	Men’s Basketball	3rd
2013	Andrew Davis	Men’s Basketball	1st
2016	Kylene Hatton	Softball	3rd
2017	Jaslyn Wacker	Volleyball	2nd
2018	Mariah Jameyson	Softball	1st / AAA of the Year

 

SOFTBALL

 

Lion Softball ranked No. 9 in final NFCA Coaches Poll of 2018 season.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.– The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team is ranked No. 9 in the country in the final National Fastpitch Coaches Association coaches poll of the 2018 season. The Lions ranked in all 13 during the season. They are the highest ranked team that did not participate in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship tournament.

The Lion softball team had its most successful season in program history during the 2018 season. The team finished with a record of 42-12. They finished in third place in the Lone Star Conference standings, their highest finish in school history. The team won its first-ever LSC Tournament game and advanced to the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament for the second time in program history. The Lion offense caught fire in the tournament, outscoring opponents 52-27 to win the program’s first-ever South Central Region Championship. The team advanced to the Super Regional series for the first time in history before being knocked off by Angelo State, the No. 6 team in the NFCA poll.

The Lions had one of the most prolific offenses in the nation. They led the country in on-base percentage, were second in home runs, third in slugging percentage, fourth in scoring average, sixth in batting average and seventh in stolen bases. The team led the LSC in scoring, on-base percentage, RBIs and stolen bases and were second in batting average, home runs, slugging percentage and fielding percentage. The Lion pitching staff also set program records for lowest opponent batting average, fewest hits allowed, fewest runs allowed and fewest walks allowed.

2018 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll – June 6 (Poll 13) 

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	RECORD	PREVIOUS
1	Southern Indiana (16)	400	41-23	NR
2	Saint Anselm	384	44-13-1	RV
3	Southern Arkansas	354	60-11	8
4	Saint Leo	344	39-18	25
5	North Georgia	340	62-4	1
6	Angelo State	332	53-9	6
7	Chico State	309	55-6	2
8	West Chester	289	45-15	RV
9	A&M-COMMERCE	259	42-12	13
10	Concordia Irvine	228	46-14	12
11	Alabama-Huntsville	223	39-18	16
12	Illinois Springfield	204	40-19	19
13	Dixie State	180	42-10	18
14	Young Harris	172	35-21	NR
15	Minnesota Duluth	166	44-16	25
16	Colorado Mesa	159	48-5	3
17	Grand Valley State	126	44-9	9
18	North Alabama	114	46-7	4
19	Winona State	100	45-7	5
20	Tarleton State	92	50-11	17
21	Lenoir-Rhyne	85	45-10	11
22	Palm Beach Atlantic	73	36-8	7
23	LIU Post	65	38-19	NR
24	Gannon	64	32-15	RV
25	California Baptist	57	35-12	14

 

TRACK AND FIELD

Track & Field’s Obst and McKee named LSC Outdoor Athletes of the Year.

RICHARDSON– Texas A&M University-Commerce Track & Field athletes Florian Obst and Kamryn McKee have received individual awards from the Lone Star Conference. Obst was named the LSC Male Field Athlete of the Year while McKee was named LSC Female Track Athlete of the Year. They announced the awards after a vote by the LSC head coaches.

“To have both Florian and Kamryn receive those awards is indicative of how hard they worked the entire year,” said A&M-Commerce track & field head coach George Pincock. “The entire team had aspired to be the best at the end of the year when it mattered the most. It means a lot.”

Obst– a senior from Emmering, Germany– capped off his historic A&M-Commerce career with one of the most outstanding seasons in NCAA Division II history. Obst repeated as the Division II National Champion in the decathlon, becoming only the second athlete in Division II history to score more than 8,000 points in the decathlon, and the first since 1985. Obst won the event by more than 700 points. He became the first A&M-Commerce track & field athlete to win back-to-back national titles since the school joined the NCAA and only the third athlete in school history to repeat as an individual track & field national champion.

“Flo is one of those guys that does just about everything right,” Pincock said. “Because of that, he can do things that other people can’t. It is tough to win national championships back-to-back. It is tough to score more than 8,000 points in a decathlon, but he does all the little things right. He has been a great example of not only working hard but how to prioritize school work and how to take care of his body and how to eat right. He does all the little things well, and the team has noticed that. He has shared that with them, and I think we are going to see a lot of other people hop on the same train that Florian has been riding and start paying attention to the little things that make a big difference in performance.”

Obst finished his two-year A&M-Commerce career as the school record holder in both the decathlon and the heptathlon, as well as the LSC record holder in both events. He was a two-time national champion, a four-time All-American, a seven-time All-Region selection, a four-time All-Conference selection and a Scholar-Athlete of the Year. It is the third All-Conference Athlete of the Year award of his career.

McKee– a senior from Lewisville– finished her A&M-Commerce career earning All-American honors in the 400-meters and the 4×400 meter relay, breaking both school records in the process. McKee was instrumental throughout the season in helping the Lion women’s track & field team earned its highest national ranking in program history. She was also a two-time All-Region selection in both the 400-meters and the 4×400 meter relay and was a First Team All-Conference selection.

“I don’t think there is a better way to go out,” Pincock said of McKee’s senior outdoor season. “She was in the office earlier this week, and I asked her how she felt about the meet, and she said, ‘I feel perfect about it. I don’t think I could have done any better.’ She had two great races in the open 400s. She had two PR’s, two of the fastest splits in the 4×4 prelims and final of the entire meet. She feels terrific about it, but she also wanted to say that she ran under 54 seconds. She ran a 54.06. That speaks to how competitive she is.

“This year for her was about taking advantage of every opportunity she could, especially in some of those bigger races at the LSC Championships and the National Championships. She was on a mission. She had set some goals for herself, and she wasn’t going to let anything get in the way. I think that is why Kam had such a great season, and it was a lot of fun to watch.”

McKee finished her four-year A&M-Commerce career as the record holder in eight different events. She holds the outdoor track & field records in the 400-meters, the 4×100 meter relay and the 4×400 meter relay. McKee is also the indoor record holder in the 200-meters, the 300-meters, the 400-meters, the 4×400 meter relay and the long jump. She was a six-time All-American, an 11-time All-Region selection, and a seven-time All-Conference honoree. It is the first All-Conference Athlete of the Year award of her career.

Pincock spoke of the year his program had and praised his senior leaders for their impact on the program, not just on this season, but for years to come.

“It was an exceptional year, and it was a lot of fun in so many different ways,” he said. “I think one of the things that made it special as we had some good leaders. We had some good senior leadership from people like Florian and Kamryn. I can name a lot of seniors that made such a huge impact on the program and have gradually seen it get better and better. Those leaders worked across teams too. A lot of the guys looked to Kamryn as a leader, and a lot of the girls saw Florian as a leader. Because we had people working across the genders, I think we saw both groups get better in the end because of that. They grew as a family. One group cheered for the other, and it was a level of performance that they expected out of each other as well.”