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Year in Review: ENMU saw program firsts (and a second)

Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories reviewing 2018 for eastern New Mexico.

PORTALES — Call 2018 a mixed bag for Eastern New Mexico sports.

There were Eastern teams that had their struggles, but also a historic women’s soccer team and good runs (pun intended) for track and field star Marcus Parker and cross country standout Mercy Rotich.

Winter

The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team had a chance at a Lone Star Conference Tournament bid, and Maurice Coleman helped deliver it, hitting the go-ahead bucket with 27 seconds left in a crucial road game at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Feb. 24. Coleman’s basket held up for a 58-56 victory that got Eastern invited to the LSC dance.

Once there on March 2, however, the Hounds fell behind by 30 against top-seeded and 13th-ranked West Texas A&M and could never recover at Kitty Magee Arena in Denton, Texas.

The Eastern women’s team had its own success last winter. On February 21, the NCAA released Division II rankings that had the Greyhounds ninth in the South Central poll.

However, in their opening-round LSC Tournament game against Tarleton State at Frisco, Texas, the Hounds were defeated 83-61, despite a double-double from Clovis High grad Shelby Jones.

Spring

Eastern’s baseball team put its indelible imprint into the Greyhound record books on May 10 by earning its first postseason victory in program history, 7-4 over Angelo State in the LSC Tournament at Canyon, Texas.

To make matters all the more exciting, the win was of the comeback variety, as ENMU plated four runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-4 lead, then held on in the bottom of the inning with a save by Keenan Dodd.

Erikka Burke and Jennifer McElroy had memorable softball seasons, for which each was rewarded with All-LSC selections.

Burke set career records for homeruns, walks, intentional walks and hit-by-pitches. She finished eighth in the LSC hitting ranks (.406), fifth in slugging percentage (.819), third in on-base percentage (.534), tied for third in homers (15) and third in hit-by-pitches (18).

McElroy’s season was punctuated by an 11-game hitting streak and also included 15 doubles — fourth in the LSC and tied for Eastern’s sixth-best single-season total.

The spring was record-setting for ENMU’s track and field team that was amply rewarded with seven All-American selections, including First-Teamers Marcus Parker (100-meter and 200-meter dashes) and the women’s 4x100-meter relay team of Danee Bustos, Maijah Mathis, Kandice Miles and Lateria Slaughter. Kenneth Lloyd made Second Team in the high jump.

At the national championship meet, Parker finished second in the 200 (:20.54), the highest a Greyhound has ever finished nationally, outdoor or indoor, since Eastern became part of the NCAA.

The women’s 400 relay team broke the school record twice during the course of the three-day national meet, and wound up placing eighth.

Eastern’s spring season ended in mid-June, with the rodeo team placing third at the College National Finals Rodeo and Celie Vick taking eighth.

Fall

Roster turnover and a brutal early schedule hit Eastern’s football team hard, as the Greyhounds went from an 8-2 season in 2017 to 5-6 in ’18.

The Greyhounds did end on a good note by beating Western Oregon 19-14 on Nov. 10 at Greyhound Stadium, and could look forward to reliable starting quarterback Wyatt Strand returning for his redshirt senior season in 2019.

For the first time in program history, Eastern’s women’s soccer team played for a Lone Star Conference championship when facing off against Angelo State on Nov. 4 in Canyon. They came up short, 2-0, however and finished their historic season 9-9-2.

The men’s soccer team was one win away from the Heartland Conference West Division title, but lost 2-1 to Lubbock Christian on Oct. 25 at Greyhound Stadium and wound up out of the conference playoffs, though did finish 8-8-2.

Sophomore volleyball star Jasmine Gannon was named an All-LSC Tournament hitter on Nov. 10, two days after Eastern fell to Tarleton State in the LSC quarterfinals and four days after Gannon was named to the All-LSC First Team.

The Eastern cross country team was highlighted by Rotich earning LSC’s Runner of the Year award, announced on Dec. 10.

Also in December, Eastern’s indoor track and field team found itself ranked 18th in a preseason USTFCCCA poll.

And with the year days away from ending, Eastern’s men’s basketball team carried a four-game winning streak into Saturday afternoon’s road game at Oklahoma Christian, which ended in defeat for the Hounds.

The Eastern women are off to a 7-2 start as they head into Monday’s Lubbock Christian game to finish the year.

2019 awaits.

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