Jasper Indiana Native Scott Rolen inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
After several years biding his time on the ballot, Jasper Indiana native Scott Rolen is finally a hall of famer. The third baseman was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, six months after the Baseball Writers Association of America voted to put him there. It was Rolen’s sixth year on the ballot, and he made it with 76.3% of the vote. Rolen was inducted alongside first baseman Fred McGriff, who was unanimously selected by the Contemporary Era Committee in December. Both Rolen and McGriff gave their acceptance speeches Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, with McGriff taking the stage first. Rolen stepped up to the podium following a highlight reel and video introduction from Albert Pujols, who was teammates with Rolen on the St. Louis Cardinals from 2002 to 2007.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred then read aloud Rolen’s newly minted plaque, which features him in a Cardinals hat. The plaque read as follows: Scott Bruce Rolen- Philadelphia, N.L. 1996-2002; St. Louis, N.L. 2002-07; Toronto, A.L. 2008-09; Cincinnati, N.L. 2009-12 Paired elite glovework with formidable bat to become a dominant two-way threat at third base, never appearing at another position in his big-league career. Followed unanimous 1997 N.L. Rookie of the Year season in Philadelphia with first of his eight Gold Glove awards in 1998. Blasted three home runs in N.L.C.S to help Cardinals win the 2004 pennant and two years later led St. Louis to the World Series title, batting .421 in the five-game set. Seven-time All-Star and intelligent baserunner retired as one of only three third basemen with 300 home runs, 500 doubles and 100 stolen bases.
When he began his speech, Rolen thanked each of the teams he played for, as well as the voters, his family, friends, teammates, coaches, support staff and more. He detailed how his parents coming to his major league debut on Aug. 1, 1996, was one of the best moments of his career, while striking out to end a playoff game against the San Francisco Giants on Oct. 11, 2012, was one of the worst. Rolen shared emotional stories about his parents and kids, from getting high school basketball advice from his father to creating signals for his family in the stands. Across 17 seasons in the majors, Rolen racked up 2,077 hits, 316 home runs, 517 doubles and 118 stolen bases with a .281 batting average and .855 OPS. Rolen made six All-Star teams and won NL Rookie of the Year in 1997, in addition to eight Gold Gloves, a silver slugger and the 2006 World Series. Rolen is the director of player development for Indiana University Baseball.
Indy Eleven Women’s Soccer Team wins the USL W League Championship
Alia Martin scored in the 99th minute to earn a 2-1 victory for Indy Eleven and secure the 2023 USL W League Championship. For her efforts, Martin was named the USL W League Final MVP. The game was played in front of record-setting fans as the USL W League Final drew a crowd of 5,419 to set the record for the most attended women’s soccer match in Indiana History. Martin’s match-winning goal, which was her second in consecutive games after scoring the late go-ahead goal in the 3-2 National Semifinal win over San Francisco, was her second of the season. The play started with Katie Soderstrom, who secured the corner kick for Indy. Grace Bahr’s service found Annika Creel who redirected the ball back into the center of the 18. Martin made the most of her second chance and connected on a bicycle over the top of the out-stretched North Carolina Courage keeper.
After a scoreless first half, it was Indy Eleven that broke the stalemate starting with Addie Chester on the right flank. Chester played a short ball in to Maddy Williams who laid it off for a one-two ball to Greta Kraszula. Kraszula’s ball back into the box found Williams who played the ball across the goal and into the lower right corner. It was her ninth goal of the season, which ties the team high alongside Sam Dewey. NC Courage evened the score in the 75th minute when Mia Oliaro found Lauren Martinho off a cross. The Eleven finish the 2023 season 12-1-1.
Mackenize Holmes and Indiana Women’s Basketball are headed to Maine on November 30th to play the Maine Black Bears
Mackenzie Holmes has made the long trek home many times since joining IU women’s basketball in 2019. The entire program will join her on that journey in November. IU will make the 1,100-mile trip to face Maine in late November. Holmes grew up in the town of Gorham, Maine, with a population roughly the size of the number of seats in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. “I am so excited to announce that I will be returning to my home state with Indiana to face The University of Maine at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland on November 30,” Holmes said in a video released by IU on Friday.
Gorham is a town just outside of Portland. Holmes led Gorham H.S. to two state titles, and as a senior, she was named the 2019 Maine Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 30.1 points, 16.7 rebounds, 3.9 blocks and 2.9 steals per game on 63.1 percent shooting from the floor. “I can’t wait to play in front of my friends and family, and I hope to see you guys there,” she added. Holmes will have plenty of supporters in the crowd. For her family it will be the easiest IU game to attend. But Mackenzie wasn’t the first family member to travel the long path from Maine to IU.
Holmes is the daughter of two basketball coaches and her father, Lenny, took his team in vans to one of Bob Knight’s IU team camps that used to take place during the summer. When IU started recruiting Mackenzie, he told her of that trip, and the rich history of Indiana basketball. Lenny and Holmes’ mother Denise have traveled the Maine Bloomington path many times since their daughter joined the IU program. Her older brother Cameron was part of the IU program as a practice player for Mackenzie’s first three years, transferring there from Bryant to support his sister. So, he’s very familiar with the long journey as well. He is now a graduate manager at Illinois State. But on November 30th, the Holmes family won’t have to travel. Mackenzie is coming home.
Indiana University Swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui sets All-Time Fifth-Fastest 400 Free, earns Silver at the World Championships
On the first day of pool swimming at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka Japan Sunday, second-year swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui made history in the 400-meter freestyle final for Tunisia with an African record 3:40.70 which is the fifth-fastest 400 free all-time. In a back-and-forth race with Sam Short, Hafanoui finished just .02 seconds behind the Australian to place second in the world in the race he won at the Olympics in Tokyo. His time was three seconds faster than his Olympic champion time (3:43.76).
Josh Matheny matched his personal best 59.20 in the 100-meter breaststroke to finish second in his semifinal heat and advance to the final. The 20-year-old Matheny, the youngest final qualifier in the race by three years, will be the No. 7 seed in this morning championship swim set for approximately 7am Bloomington Time. Tomer Frankel and Israel’s 4×100-meter relay finished seventh in the world in 3:14.53. Frankel led off the race the in 48.43. The quartet was Israel’s first-ever relay to qualify for a final at World Championships.
13 Indiana University Rowers named CRCA Scholar Athletes
A program-record 13 Indiana rowing student-athletes were named College Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athletes by CRCA. To qualify, an athlete must meet both academic and athletic requirements, being in at least their second year of eligibility and maintaining an average cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher. Additionally, student-athletes must have rowed in their institution’s NCAA or IRA (lightweight) eligible boats for a minimum of 75% of the current spring races or race in an NCAA Boat at their conference championship/NCAA Championship. Six of the athletes were members of the Indiana University’s record Big Ten Distinguished Scholar class, which saw 115 IU student-athletes receive the distinction by maintaining a 3.70 GPA: Madeline Anderson, Abbey Armstrong, Jessica Bastos, Sophie Carmosino, Lilly Haupt, Avery Thorpe. Twelve total IU rowers were members of that list.
Indiana rowers made history in the classroom while making history on the water. At the Big Ten Championships, IU earned a program-record third-place finish. Scholar-athletes Phoebe Inall, Laura Feinson and Ruby Leverington were members of the Varsity Eight crew that recorded a silver-medal performance, also a program record. Indiana then returned to the NCAA Rowing Championships for the seventh time in nine full seasons and for the first time since 2019. IU finished No. 17 in the nation.
CRCA Scholar-Athletes-Madeline Anderson, Abbey Armstrong, Jessica Bastos, Sophie Carmosino, Laura Feinson, Lily Haupt, Erin Heapy, Phoebe Inall, Libby Krueger, Ruby Leverington, Mikayla Messinger, Ellie Pedersen and Avery Thorpe.
New Indiana University Track and Field and Cross-Country Coach Ed Beathea names his staff for the 2023-24 season
Indiana Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ed Beathea named his coaching staff for the 2023-24 season, his first season in charge of the program. Jake Wiseman, Mike Erb, Andrew Poore and Warren Bye will remain on the staff while Eric Heins, Valerie Brown and Megan Tomei join the program in Bloomington. “I am pleased to be working with all of these outstanding individuals,” Beathea said. “All of them bring an abundance of knowledge and experience to the program. We all share a similar vision of what the program can be and how to achieve it. We are excited to start developing our students both on and off the track.” All staff members will begin their positions immediately ahead of the new school year.
Eric Heins –Head Cross Country Coach/Associate Head Coach – Distance
As announced previously in May 27-time conference coach of the year and 2016 NCAA DI Men’s Cross-Country Coach of the Year, Eric Heins will take over as head coach for the Indiana Cross Country teams and serve as Associate Head Coach for Distance in Track and Field. Most recently the Cross-Country coach at the University of Louisville, Heins led Northern Arizona to the 2016 NCAA Men’s Cross-Country title while helping to build the Lumberjacks into a national powerhouse. Heins, a Cross Country National Champion himself, has coached 64 conference champions, 14 All-Americans, two national champions and one Olympian. David McNeill did the indoor/outdoor double at 5000 meters in 2010 to give Heins his first individual NCAA champion.
Jake Wiseman- Associate Head Coach – Pole Vault, Multis
The longest-tenured member of IU’s coaching staff, Wiseman will begin his 19th-consecutive season as a coach for the Hoosiers in 2023. He will be one of two Associate Head Coaches for the Hoosiers in 2023. After a successful career as a decathlete for the Hoosiers, Wiseman joined the program’s coaching staff. He will continue to oversee the development of IU’s pole vaulters and multi-athletes.
He has seen nine different athletes qualify for the national meet and has coached 15 Big Ten Champions, 18 All-Big Ten honorees, one Big Ten Freshman of the Year and one Great Lakes Region Athlete of the Year. IU has won four of the past five Big Ten indoor titles in the men’s pole vault and have won three Big Ten outdoor titles on the women’s side since 2016.
Andrew Poore –Assistant Coach – Distance/Recruiting Coordinator – Distance
A seven-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Champion as an athlete for the Hoosiers, Poore will continue his role on the coaching staff under Beathea. He will serve as the recruiting coordinator on the distance side while assistant Eric Heins with IU’s Cross-Country teams and Track and Field distance runners. The 2023 campaign saw a handful of breakout runners under the guidance of Poore including first-year athlete Claire Overfelt. The Whiteland, Ind. native, who started as IU as a club runner, ran 34:00.24 in the 10,000 meters, moving into ninth in program history. Alyssa Skorge ran 10:24.04 in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the Penn Relays to move up to eighth in the program’s all-time list. Freshman Katelyn Winton finished fifth for IU in Cross Country at the conference meet in 2022 before making the Big Ten final indoors in the mile. Poore will enter his 10th year with the program as a coach this season.
Mike Erb–Assistant Coach – Jumps
Erb, entering his 10th season with the Hoosiers, will continue his role as jumps coach in 2023. Last year, he helped guide Paola Fernandez -Sola (outdoor long jump) and Hope Purcell (indoor pentathlon) to Big Ten titles while overseeing the development of a deep group of jumpers. Leah Moran, coached by Erb, holds the program’s indoor and outdoor triple jump records while Fernandez-Sola has the school’s outdoor record. Fernandez-Sola became the first woman in program history to earn All-American honors in the long jump both indoors and outdoors in the same season in 2023. Erb has led seven different athletes to conference titles since 2017.
Valerie Brown –Assistant Coach – Sprints, Hurdles and Relays
Brown joins the Hoosiers after serving on the staff at Austin Peay since 2011. She was an associate head coach from 2014-19 before being named the program’s head coach. In four years at the helm of Austin Peay’s program, Brown was named Coach of the Year in 2020 after leading the team to the 2020 ASUN conference championship. Her role in Bloomington will see her assist Beathea with the team’s sprinters, hurdlers and relays. Since arriving to Clarksville, Austin Peay’s sprinters have broken school records in the 60 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and 4×400 relay (indoors) and 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 100 hurdles and 4×100 relay (outdoors).
She helped oversee the development of Kenisha Phillips, a five-time ASUN champion in the 400 meters. Phillips ran personal bests of 11.58 (100m), 23.28 (200m) and 52.44 (400m) while splitting 52.2 on anchor leg for Austin Peay’s ASUN-title winning 4×400 relay team this past February. Brown coached Breigh jones (PB: 52.65) to the 2014 OVC Outdoor Championship in the 400 meters and a bid to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene. An outstanding sprinter in her own right, Brown finished third in the 400 meters at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships. She swept the Sun Belt titles in the 200 meters and 400 meters indoors in 2009 and won back-to-back conference titles in the 4×400 relay outdoors in 2007 and 2008.
Megan Tomei –Assistant Coach – Throws
After six seasons as the throws coach at Youngstown State, Tomei will move to Bloomington to join Beathea’s staff. While at Youngstown State, Tomei coached 26 Horizon League Champions in the throws including six in 2023. The Penguins won the conference’s javelin title on both the men’s and women’s side at all four conference meets contested under Tomei. Back-to-back Horizon League discus champion Zach Gehm advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas where he finished 17th, narrowly missing out on All-American honors. The program’s men’s and women’s discus records and men’s javelin records at Youngstown State have all fallen under the guidance of Tomei. Tomei competed collegiately at Ashland where she was a 15-time All-American and eight-time DII national qualifier while competing in the shot put, weight throw and hammer throw.
Warren Bye –Director of Operations/Recruiting Coordinator – Track
Bye will take over the role as Director of Operations for the Hoosiers while serving as a recruiting coordinator on the track side.
He served as a head coach at South Florida where he spent 13 years before a three-year stint at Louisville. Bye returned to his alma mater in 2022 and worked directly in coordinating team travel, team meals, gear orders and other day-to-day operations.
2023-24 Track and Field Staff- Ed Beathea: Director of Track and Field, Eric Heins: Head Cross Country Coach/Associate Head Coach – Distance, Jake Wiseman: Associate Head Coach – Pole Vault, Multis, Andrew Poore: Assistant Coach – Distance/Recruiting Coordinator – Distance, Mike Erb: Assistant Coach – Jumps, Valerie Brown: Assistant Coach – Sprints, Hurdles and Relays, Megan Tomei: Assistant Coach – Throws and Warren Bye: Director of Operations/Recruiting Coordinator – Track
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