MIAA Set to Celebrate Memorable 2009-10 Season

By David Boyce

Once you get past the NCAA Division II national titles won by the Northwest Missouri football team, the Emporia State women’s basketball team and the second-place finish by Central Missouri’s men’s golf team, it’s the people that made the MIAA 2009-10 season so special.

Many of the athletic accomplishments will be celebrated tonight at the Downtown Marriott when the MIAA has its annual spring awards dinner.

The next two Ken B. Jones Award winners will be announced. All six nominees are worthy of the award that honors academic achievement, athletic success and community service.

The committee has a very difficult choice to make. The men’s finalists are Northwest Missouri football player Myles Burnsides, Washburn football player Zach Watkins and Nebraska-Omaha football player Mike Higgins.

On the women’s side, the candidates are Emporia State basketball player Cassondra Boston, Missouri Southern distance runner Kimi Shank and Central Missouri volleyball and softball player Caitlain Pankratz.

Five of the six athletes have been quoted in several stories that have appeared on the MIAA website throughout the school year.

Their comments, like so many other athletes in the MIAA, have shown insight after a tough loss and humility after a great win.

They epitomize what Emporia State athletic director Kent Weiser said he hopes all of the student-athletes in the MIAA gain from the academic school year.

“Our student-athletes, like most, you want them to believe anything is possible, that they are good enough and talented enough to compete, not only in sports, but in life with anyone in the country,” Weiser said.

“When you have the national success that our conference has had, it is a good example of showing kids what potential is all about. If they do the right things a lot of good things can happen.”

Simply put, the MIAA is one of, if not the best, Division II conference in the country. The results in 2009-10 make it almost indisputable.

“The conference, you look up and down the line in any sport, we had many conference schools finishing in the top five,” Central Missouri athletic director Jerry Hughes said. “We won national championships and other teams were right there.

“This conference, no question, is one of the premier conferences in Division II.”

The student-athletes from the 11 schools took their family and fans on some wild, incredibly exciting rides that will be talked about for years to come.

Imagine the thrill Shank felt when she broke a 24-year-old conference record and won the 5K in the MIAA championship and the previous record holder, Darla Curp, happened to be at the meet and congratulated her.

“She came up to me after the race was over and gave me a hug and told me, ‘good job.’ I thought that was really awesome of her,” Shank said in mid May.

But the wildest ride of all started in early spring and came from one of the winter sports.

The Emporia State women’s basketball team left Kansas City in early March not really looking like a contender for a national title. The Hornets lost their semifinal game in the MIAA Tournament.

But they got hot and won their regional in Texas and traveled to St. Joseph, Mo., for the Elite Eight. They won their first game and then faced undefeated and No. 1-ranked Gannon in the national semifinal game.

The Hornets faced an 18-point deficit with 8:59 left.

“You really start to, or at least I did, reflect that it was a really good season,” Weiser said. “To see us come back and win that game in overtime you felt that something special was going to happen.”

Emporia State wound up beating Gannon 97-94 in overtime and then won the school’s first NCAA Division II title by beating Fort Lewis 65-53 in the championship game.

“It seemed almost surreal,” Weiser said. “It was so fortunate for all of us to have St. Joseph to host that tournament. It was close enough for so many of our fans to see that in person.”

A few weeks earlier, the indoor track athletes from the MIAA distinguished themselves at the national meet. The MIAA crowned six individual champions, more than any other Division II conference.

Although no spring sports team came away with a national title, plenty of MIAA teams were in the running for one.

Central Missouri’s baseball team made it to the NCAA Division II World Series and won its first game before falling in its second, an epic, 2-1, 11-inning loss to top ranked UC-San Diego. The Mules lost their next game, ending their quest for a national title.

By any standard, Central Missouri had a very successful spring season. The golf team took second nationally and the men’s track team placed third nationally in the outdoor meet.

“What I will remember about this school year is while many of our sports had very good years, our spring sports were just outstanding,” Hughes said. “I don’t quite remember a year where we had the success like we did this spring.

“It’s very big when you consider the teams that beat us are fully funded and we are not fully funded in track. Those young people did an outstanding job. Look at golf. Golf finishes second and it’s not fully funded and competing against all the Sun Belt schools. That’s a huge statement.”

Of course, there were so many more memorable, record-breaking moments for MIAA athletes.

Like Nebraska-Omaha flame thrower Joe Holtmeyer striking out batters in April like he was the second-coming of Stephen Strasburg, or Truman sophomore distance runner Dani Dell’Orco finishing second in the 5K at the Drake Relays in April.

And then there is Central Missouri sophomore decathlete Darius Walker winning the national decathlon.

With so many youngsters doing so many great things on the national level, it sure appears that the 2010-11 school year will be just as spectacular for the MIAA.

It starts with football, with Northwest Missouri trying to defend its national title and attempting to make an unprecedented sixth straight trip to the title game.

The Bearcats will navigate a slightly different landscape in the MIAA. Central Missouri, Pittsburg State and Truman will all have new football coaches. The new coach at Central Missouri is Jim Svoboda, the former offensive coordinator at Northwest Missouri.

Svoboda was in Maryville when the Bearcats won back-to-back national titles in 1998-99.

“It will be interesting to see how everybody responds,” Hughes said.

One thing that is certain is Northwest Missouri coach Mel Tjeersdma, who was recently selected to the Division II Football Hall of Fame, will be ready for the new challenges.

“I’m really looking forward to next season,” Tjeerdsma said. “We have a lot of kids back. The challenge is to get the most out of them.”

The 2009 football season will always have a spot in Tjeerdsma’s heart.

“I will always remember it for our seniors and the disappointment they had in the previous years, and then to see their joy of winning the championship made it special,” Tjeerdsma said.

Actually, Tjeerdsma is one of the special people that make the MIAA what it is today.

Tjeerdsma took a few minutes out of his Hawaiian cruise with his wife to return a call and talk about 2009 and the upcoming season.

With coaches like him leading goal-oriented student-athletes, expect more championships for the MIAA in 2010-11.

“We always believe in conference that if you can win a conference title, you can win at the national level,” Weiser said. “I think this season was an example of that.

“I was very much rooting for Central Missouri in baseball. I thought it would have been neat for our conference to have three national championships in a year.

“I think it speaks volumes for our group of institutions up and down the line in every sport that we are competitive.”