Greg Paradine, who had his most successful of eight seasons in men’s lacrosse at Lenoir-Rhyne University last season, has been named the top coach in NCAA Division II by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA)./LRU PHOTO
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HICKORY – Greg Paradine — who just completed his eighth season as men’s lacrosse head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University — has been named the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA).
Paradine is only the third coach at LRU to win a national coach of the year award, joining the late Clarence Stasvich (football, 1959) and Todd Starkey (women’s basketball, 2008-09) on that list.
LRU had its best year last season, going 8-0 in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) to win a regular-season title. The Bears also played host to a national semifinal last season.
LRU went 9-2 at home, 6-1 on the road and 2-0 in neutral site contests last season. Three Bears received invites to the 2018 USILA All-Star Game, a quartet of Bears earned NCAA Division II All-America honors and two seniors signed with major league organizations.
Paradine has been the SAC Coach of the Year three times with eight first-team All-SAC players.
He spent seven seasons as a lacrosse assistant coach at North Carolina, where he played, before coming to LRU to start the program. He also coached at Ohio State and, before that, at Chapel Hill High.
CVCC women’s game
on Wednesday won’t be played
HICKORY – The Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC) women have postponed a basketball game scheduled for Wednesday night.
The Red Hawks will not play at Walters State, as planned, and no new date has been determined.
CVCC (6-1, 2-1 Region X) will play its final game in 2018 on Sunday, facing visiting Bryant & Stratton College (8-0, 5-0) in a Region X battle that begins at 1 p.m.
SUDDRETH
LRU’s Suddreth top player for week in SAC
HICKORY – Lenoir-Rhyne University senior Madi Sudderth won the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) award as the league’s women’s Player of the Week.
Suddreth, a high school star at Alexander Central High, was a key as the Bears upset No. 20 Carson-Newman on the road, 78-75, last weekend with a season-high 30 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
She was a preseason All-SAC pick and leads LRU in scoring average (15.8 points) and is fourth in the conference in field goal percentage (52.8).
LRU’s next game is Saturday at 2 p.m., a conference road game at Anderson, S.C.
CLIFTON
Bears’ Clifton on Academic
All-American second team
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Ronnie Clifton, a junior offensive lineman for Lenoir-Rhyne University from Front Royal, Va., has been named a second-team Academic All-American in NCAA Division II football.
Clifton was selected to the CoSIDA Google Cloud second-team on Tuesday. He carries a 3.88 grade point average as a finance and business management major.
Clifton played in all 14 games for LRU this season, helping the Bears win a South Atlantic Conference (SAC) title. He earned the 2018 SAC Football Elite 20 award and was a first-team All-District selection for academics.
CoSIDA is the College Sports Information Directors of America.
To review the teams, visit https://academicallamerica.com/news/2018/12/11/2018-google-cloud-academic-all-america-ncaa-division-ii-football-team-announced.aspx
BROWN
Brown, Shimsock of LRU earn academic honors
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne University had two women’s soccer players honored for academics, both making second team as selected by the United Soccer Coaches Association (USCA).
Senior Abbie Brown and junior Christina Shimshock are second-team picks on the All-America team.
Brown, from Leeds England, has a grade point average of 3.87 as a health and science major. A forward, she led the Bears with 16 goals and had six assists this season, and her six of her goals were game-winners.
SHIMSOCK
Shimshock, a defender from Asheville, has a GPA of 3.81 as a health and science major. She played nearly 1,500 minutes while starting in all 18 games, making four assists and anchoring a defense that had seven shutouts.
To view all selections, visit: https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web/Awards/Recipients/2018_United_Soccer_Coaches_NCAA_Division_II_Women_s_Scholar_All-America_Team.aspx
- Brown and Shimsock were named first-team were on the United Soccer Coaches (USC) women’s academic team All-South Region team. LRU also had two second-team selections, Claire Neibergall (senior defender from Springfield, Ill., with 3.76 GPA in computer science) and Aqsa Mushtaq (junior midfielder from Bradford, England with 3.39 GPA in psychology.