A successful week for spring sports

Multiple UCO athletics programs had a historic, successful week.

BASKETBALL

UCO men’s and women’s basketball wrapped up their final, regular 2021-22 season games at Hamilton Field House on Saturday. 

Women’s basketball fell to Missouri Southern 71-68. The Lions hit a three-point shot with 3.0 seconds left in the final quarter, overtaking the Bronchos home finale. The women’s team finished the regular season with a 16-12 overall record and a 12-10 record in the MIAA. Going into the postseason, the Bronchos are set to play Emporia State next week.

Men’s basketball defeated Missouri Southern 95-76 and became MIAA Champions for the first time since joining the league 10 years ago. Read pages one and three for more details.

WRESTLING

The No. 1 ranked Bronchos took first place in the NCAA Super Regional IV tournament on Saturday at Hyland Arena. The Bronchos crowned six champions and will send eight qualifiers to the NCAA Division II Wrestling National Championships in St. Louis, MO March 11-12. The six regional champions include Dalton Abney, Tanner Cole, Brik Filippo, Heath Gray, Paxton Rosen, and Shawn Streck.

TENNIS

The Bronchos, ranked No. 3 in the country, opened the 2022 ITA Division II Women’s Tennis Indoor National Championship with a 4-0 win over Columbus State on Saturday at Edmond Center Court. 

On Sunday, the Bronchos defeated No. 2 Indianapolis 4-3, advancing to the championship title game yesterday, where the Bronchos fell to Barry.

GOLF

On Feb. 22, the women’s golf team won the Tunica Cup in Tunica, Miss. with a score of 305 over 36 holes. Susana Olivares took the individual title while Emma Shelley finished fourth and Mika Ramos finished fifth. All three players were named to the all-tournament team. 

The Bronchos are set to play March 7-8 at the Diffee Ford-Lincoln Invitational hosted by Southern Nazarene at Lincoln Park East in Oklahoma City. 

TRACK AND FIELD

The Bronchos wrapped up their indoor season at the 2022 MIAA Indoor Championships last weekend at Northwest Missouri State’s Hughes Field House. 

Harlie Hanson finished seventh in the 5,000-meter race on Saturday with a time of 17:52.70, setting a new school record, which previously belonged to her anyway. On Sunday, she finished 13th in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 10:20.13, her personal second-best mark.

Ansley Scott qualified for the 400-meter finals with a dashing performance Saturday in the prelims. She finished eighth, timing 57.75 seconds, a personal best and the best time by a Broncho this season. She also ran in the 200-meter race, but failed to qualify for that championship race. On Sunday, she ran the 400 in 56.93 seconds and finished eighth. 

Kaleigh Dyas finished 12th on Saturday in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.74 seconds. She did not advance to the finals.

During weight throwing, Dahsauni Lyday finished 12th with a mark of 15.01 meters, Tatum Robertson finished 18th with 13.62 meters, and Eve Brennan finished 19th with 13.43 meters.

On Sunday, competing in shot put, Lyday finished fifth, Robertson finished 14th and Brennan finished 15th in the championship.

Jordan Chancellor finished 24th in the long jump with 4.57 meters. Cali Dorman and Jacie Edwards finished 15th and 16th respectively with times of 1:01.72 and 1:07.22.

Arizona Hummingbird finished 16th in the mile race with 5.18.02. She also ran the 3,000 meters and finished 26th.

BASEBALL

On Saturday, the Bronchos opened MIAA play with three games against Missouri Western. In the first game, the Bronchos fell to the Lions 7-4, but came back on Sunday to win the second game 2-0. Yesterday, the Bronchos defeated Missouri Western 14-2.

SOFTBALL

On Feb. 21, the Bronchos defeated East Central 8-0. The team remains No. 16 in NCAA Division II softball rankings. Today, the Bronchos are set to head to Wichita Falls down in Texas to take on Midwestern State in a doubleheader.