Athletic News
KU Wrestler Joe Kemmerer Wins National Championship
Kutztown University wrestler Joe Kemmerer won the 2007 NCAA Division II 133 lb. Championship at the University of Nebraska-Kearney on March 10.
Kemmerer claimed the title with a 1-0 decision over Jared Henning of the University of Central Oklahoma. Earlier Saturday, Kemmerer advanced to the finals with a 3-0 decision over Shane Perkey of the University of Indianapolis.
"It feels great," Kemmerer said just after coming off the award stand. "Everything really came together for me. (Henning) had a great tournament and was a tough opponent. I just had to keep the pressure on."
Kemmerer scored the only point of the championship match with an escape to start the third period. From there, he held Henning off for the final 1:30 to claim the crown.
Kemmerer is Kutztown's first-ever wrestling national champion, the fifth Golden Bear athlete in school history to win an NCAA title, and just the third male athlete to do so. He joins Ed Flory (Men's Swimming, 1977-78), Mike Cantrel (Men's Track & Field, 1987), Claudine Gruver (Women's Swimming, 1997) and Tara Crozier (Women's Track & Field (1997) as KU's national champs.
Kemmerer, who transferred to Kutztown after competing at UNC-Greensboro in 2004-05, finishes the season 32-3. He did not lose to a Division II wrestler all season. The 32 wins are second most in a single season in KU history.
Kutztown finished with 21.5 team points, good for 16th place in the team standings, its highest finish at the NCAA Championship on record.
Previously in the season, Kemmerer and teammate Kevin Kalbach (165 lbs.) were champions at the NCAA Division II East Regionals. The regional titles were the first for both grapplers, and marked KU’s first regional champs since the 2000 season. Chris Chambers placed fifth, but advanced to nationals winning a true-fourth place bout at 149 lbs. Kutztown was 6th of 13 in the team standings.
KU finished the dual-meet season 11-2 under seventh-year head coach Robert Fisher.
KU adds Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s Bowling as Varsity Sports
Kutztown University President Dr. F. Javier Cevallos announced that women’s lacrosse and women’s bowling will be added to the school’s roster of intercollegiate varsity sports beginning in 2007-08.
The sports will bring the number of varsity sports at Kutztown to 23. They are the first additions to Kutztown’s intercollegiate athletics department since the 2000-01 school year when women’s golf was offered.
“We feel that participation in intercollegiate athletics has a beneficial effect on students - in the classroom as well as the field of competition,” Cevallos said. “We are delighted to be able to make this opportunity available to more of our students.”
Women’s lacrosse is currently sponsored by 40 NCAA Division II institutions, including eight members of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The sport will be returning to KU after a 17-year hiatus. The program was sponsored at Kutztown from 1975-90 and was responsible for the first women’s championship in school history, winning the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title in 1982.
The team will play a non-conference schedule before competing in the PSAC beginning in the spring 2009 season. The team is expected to play its home games on KU’s campus.
“We’re excited to bring women’s lacrosse back as a varsity sport at Kutztown,” Kutztown University Director of Athletics Greg Bamberger said. “We hope that the success the program experienced will help us re-establish women’s lacrosse at KU.”
Women’s bowling will be new to Kutztown. The sport, which traditionally competes in the winter season, is sponsored by 50 institutions in the NCAA, including 17 predominantly Division II institutions. Cheyney University is the only other school in the PSAC to currently offer the sport on the varsity level.
The team will compete as an independent in the NCAA. The women’s bowling championship is not divided into divisions, so teams compete for the opportunity to qualify for the Women’s National Collegiate Bowling Championship. The team’s practice facility and site for home events are still to be determined.
“Women’s bowling is an emerging sport on the collegiate level,” Bamberger said. “With the number of local high schools that offer girls bowling, especially in Berks County, it was clear that adding this sport will address the interests of our students.”
The addition of women’s sports are necessary to assist in Kutztown’s efforts to comply with Title IX. More specifically, Kutztown addresses the second of the Title IX three-prong test of compliance, demonstrating a continual expansion of opportunities for the under-represented gender.
Kutztown University’s most recent (2005-06) gender breakdown saw a 58.9%-41.1% female-male full-time undergraduate ratio, but a 54.3%-45.7% male-female ratio of student-athletes.
“It is estimated that the new sports will add roughly 40 new opportunities for females, bringing Kutztown’s female-to-male student-athlete numbers more in line with the female-to-male undergraduate population,” Bamberger said.
Kutztown is projected to join West Chester University, which also sponsors 23 varsity sports, as the largest athletic department in the PSAC. |
