Youngstown State sports notebook: Golf team takes fourth place at Carpetbagger Classic
Fifth-year senior Bryan Kordupel finished tied for third individually to lead the Youngstown State men’s golf team to a fourth-place finish on Sunday in the Carpetbagger Classic hosted by Binghamton at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana, Md.
Youngstown State was in ninth place after posting a team score of 305 in the opening round. The Penguins bounced back with a 294 in the second round to move up five spots on the leaderboard and earn their best team finish of the 2022-23 season with a two-round 599.
YSU’s 294 was the second-lowest team score of the second session and the third-lowest team score of the event. The teams played the first 27 holes of the tournament on Saturday before finishing the final nine holes on Sunday.
Kordupel finished tied for third place with a two-round score of 144 (71-73). The Boardman, Ohio, native collected his third top-five finish of the season.
Dean Austalosh finished tied for 16th with a career-best two-round score of 149 (78-71). The Campbell, Ohio, native matched his career-low round with a one-under-par 71 in the second session. The redshirt junior also earned the highest individual finish of his career.
Jacob Sylak finished tied for 31st with a career-best two-round total of 152 (78-74). The Mineral Ridge, Ohio, native also earned the highest finish of his career.
Playing as an individual, Conner Stevens finished tied for 38th with a two-round 153 (79-74) to earn the highest individual finish of his career.
Cade Kreps recorded a two-round score of 154 (78-76) while Ryan Sam finished the tournament with a 163 (79-84).
Rhode Island won the tournament title with a two-round team total of 585 while Bryant finished second with a 590. Navy finished five strokes in front of YSU in third with a 594 while Howard rounded out the top five with a 600.
Leon Heitz of Fairleigh Dickinson earned medalist honors by one stroke with a two-round score of 140 (69-71).
Youngstown State will continue its spring schedule on March 27-28 with the Don Benbow Butler Spring Invitational at Highland Golf & Country Club in Indianapolis, Ind.
Chelsie Butler one of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Thirty Under 30 honorees
Youngstown State assistant women’s basketball coach Chelsie Butler is one of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Thirty Under 30 honorees for the 2022-23 season, the organization announced on Monday.
Butler is the first Youngstown State coach to be included on the prestigious list of up-and-coming women’s basketball coaches aged 30 and under at all levels of the game. Each of the 30 honorees has exemplified their involvement in community service, mentorship and impact on others, professional manner, and attitude and professional association involvement.
“I’m very proud of Chelsie for being honored by the WBCA as being one of the best ‘Thirty under 30’ coaches in the country!” said YSU head coach John Barnes. “Chelsie was a big part of our 2021-2022 Horizon League Championship and continues to help build Youngstown State Basketball into a program that is competing for championships year in and year out. She will be a great head coach one day, and we are fortunate to have her in our Penguin family.”
“Congratulations to these 30 coaches who have distinguished themselves so early in their careers,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “The WBCA is pleased to recognize this up-and-coming talent in our coaching family. We celebrate their effort on the basketball court as teachers and equally applaud the extensive role they play in impacting the lives of their student-athletes.”
Butler has been a Penguin for two seasons as the program’s recruiting coordinator, and she has worked with two different position groups.
In her first season, she worked individually with three of the Penguins’ wings as YSU won 24 games, shared the Horizon League regular-season title and the conference’s automatic bid to the Women’s NIT. YSU set a new school record for conference wins, regardless of conference with 18, and the Penguins also tied the Horizon League record for conference wins, matching IUPUI in 2021-22 and Green Bay in 2008-09 and 2010-11. At 9-0, YSU had its best start ever to conference play.
Butler shifted her focus to a talented group of posts in 2022-23, and Lilly Ritz excelled with Butler as her position coach. Ritz became the first Penguin ever to be named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, and she repeated as an All-Horizon League First Team selection. Ritz led the Horizon League in rebounding (11.3 rpg), field-goal percentage (.605) and double-doubles (19), and she also ranked among the top three players in scoring (17.4 ppg), steals (1.8 spg) and blocks (1.2 bpg).
Butler was instrumental in the Penguins bringing in four talented student-athletes for the 2022-23 season. Mackenzie Hurd signed in November to join the program as a freshman, and Dena Jarrells, Shay-Lee Kirby and Emily Saunders all transferred from Division I institutions.
A Northeast Ohio native, Butler came to Youngstown State after spending the previous four seasons at Southeastern Louisiana. Prior to her time in Hammond, La., Butler was the graduate manager on the women’s basketball staff at Akron. She was a four-year student-athlete at Marquette, and she is a member of Minerva High School’s Hall of Fame after a standout prep career that included the All-Ohio Co-Player of the Year award as a senior.
This is the eighth year of the WBCA Thirty Under 30 program. To see a year-by-year list of past honorees, visit www.wbca.org/recognize/.
Bowling: Penguins finish Vanderbilt Music City Classic in eighth place
The Youngstown State bowling team defeated Maryville and battled Stephen F. Austin twice as it closed out the regular season on Sunday at the Vanderbilt Music City Classic.
The Penguins began the day as the eighth seed in the playoff bracket based on 10 matches of qualifying on Friday and Saturday, and that’s where they ended up. In fact, 10 teams that placed in the top 11 finished where they started the final day of the competition.
“This last day of the regular season was quite frankly one of our best days of the season, maybe the best,” said YSU head coach Doug Kuberski. “We talked some things over between yesterday and this morning, and we came in with a game plan and executed it beautifully. We will take that momentum into our preparations for the Southland Championship. Our spirits are high and we are excited for postseason play.”
Youngstown State dropped its opening match of the morning to No. 5 Stephen F. Austin 4-3. The Penguins dropped the opening game of the best-of-seven format 246-243, but they won three of the next four games to take a 3-2 lead. SFA bounced back to win the final two games to end YSU into a match against No. 8 Maryville.
YSU prevailed over the Saints in seven games, and the match was highlighted by a 279 game for the Penguins in game three. Youngstown State rolled 11 strikes in the game, and a 7-pin in the third frame was the only blemish. That gave YSU a 2-1 lead, and the Penguins won game four 228-193. Maryville won the next two games to force a game seven, and Youngstown State held a narrow 215-212 edge to set up a rematch with the Ladyjacks.
YSU shot 247 in the opening game against SFA to take a 1-0 lead, but the Penguins dropped the next four games to finish in eighth place.
Southland Bowling League teams claimed five of the top eight places in the bracket ahead of next week’s conference tournament. Sam Houston won the Music City Classic by beating No. 1-ranked and top-seeded McKendree in the finals, and Vanderbilt (third), Louisiana Tech (fourth), Arkansas State (sixth) and Stephen F. Austin (seventh) each finished ahead of YSU.
The Penguin will begin competition at the SBL Championship on Friday. The double-elimination tournament will be held at Rowlett Bowlarama in the Dallas area. Seedings and matchups will be announced this week.
Softball team to host doubleheader on Tuesday
The Youngstown State softball team begins its next phase of the 2023 season this week as it welcomes Purdue Fort Wayne to the YSU Softball Field in the Covelli Sports Complex for the Penguins’ first Horizon League and home games of the campaign.
The Penguins and Mastodons will play a doubleheader March 21 beginning at 3 p.m.
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