 |
| Sports News: Spring 2011 |
|
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 MORAVIAN HONORS SENIOR STUDENT-ATHLETES - HEFFNER & WOODRUFF NAMED SENIOR ATHLETES OF THE YEAR;
Dr. Steve Gordy joined the Moravian College faculty as a member of the Religion Department in 1982. His first real association with Greyhound athletics was simply that of a fan. In 1987, when Coach Scot Dapp became the head football coach, he asked Dr. Gordy to speak to a group of recruits who were visiting campus on a Saturday morning. These Saturday morning recruiting programs became a constant part of the recruiting plans of the football staff and Steve was a regular speaker and eventually worked to get other faculty members to come in and speak at these programs. In 1992, Coach Dapp had a late opening for a part-time coach position on his staff. Dr. Gordy expressed an interest in filling that position and while he was still Dr. Gordy of the Religion Department during class hours; he became Coach Gordy in the late afternoons during the fall. Coach Gordy was an integral part of the football staff for 14 years. In the summer of 2006, Coach Gordy suffered a severe stroke. The effects of the stroke would prevent him from resuming his teaching duties and also his coaching duties, but not from striving to recover. Just as he had always encouraged his students to work hard, and pushed the players whom he coached to never give up, he practiced what he preached. Steve pushed himself through physical therapy and it was not long that he would appear at football practices and games. As he continues to work through his recovery, he will attend many practices and has rarely missed a football game, home or away. He will come and sit in on Sunday meetings with the coaches as the staff reviews film from the game the team played the previous day – he never hesitates to put in his “two cents” when he sees something he doesn’t like. While physical abilities are not 100% - his Greyhound Spirit is that and more. |
BETHLEHEM, PA --- Moravian College honored its 2011 senior student-athletes at its annual Senior Athletics Awards Banquet Wednesday night in Johnston Hall. Women’s basketball player Amy Heffner (Schnecksville, PA/Parkland HS) was named the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete while track & field student-athlete Eric Woodruff (Brodheadsville, PA/St. Pius X HS) was honored with the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award. The Blue & Grey Scholar Athlete awards were presented to softball student-athlete Elizabeth Python (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman HS) and football player Alex Hersch (Macungie, PA/Emmaus HS). The H.T.D. Gillespie Award for outstanding service to Moravian’s athletics program was presented to Dr. Steve Gordy.
Heffner was named Moravian’s Lehigh Valley Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Outstanding Athlete for the school as well. Heffner was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team in 2011 as well as one of the Landmark Conference Tri-Players of the Year after leading the Greyhounds with averages of 18.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. She was named to the All-Tournament Team at Gwynedd-Mercy College as well as the D3hoops.com Team of the Week presented by Scoutware twice this season. Heffner was named a 2011 State Farm® Coaches’ All-America Team Honorable Mention and Women’s DIII News Honorable Mention All-America, and she was also named to the D3hoops.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team in addition to ECAC Second Team All-Star honors. Heffner, who averaged a team high 31.4 minutes a game, also has made a team high 44 three-pointers to go with 42 assists, 36 steals and 15 blocked shots while shooting 80.2 percent (146-for-182) at the foul line. Heffner, who was the Women's DIII News November Player of the Month, completed her three-year career at Moravian ranked fourth in career free throw percentage at 81.2 percent (272-of-335). Heffner helped lead Moravian to a 14-13 record this season, the program’s tenth straight appearance in the conference tournament and a berth to the 2011 ECAC Division III South Championship Tournament Quarterfinals.
Woodruff is the two-time defending national champion in the 200-meter dash outdoors and has automatically qualified for the event as well as the 100-meter dash at the 2011 NCAA Division III National Championships May 26th to 28th at Ohio Wesleyan University. At the 2011 Indoor National Championships, Woodruff earned All-America honors for the fifth time in his career with a seventh place finish in the 55-meter dash, and he was also named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III Mideast Region Male Indoor Athlete of the Year. Woodruff has helped Moravian to its third Landmark Conference indoor championship this winter and a fourth straight outdoor title earlier this month. He won two individual indoor championships in the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, and Woodruff ran on Moravian’s winning 4x200-meter relay squad. At the outdoor conference meet, Woodruff won the 200 and 200-meter dashes and also ran on Moravian’s 4x100-meter relay squad that is provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships. Woodruff, who owns seven school records, won the 55-meter dash at the 2011 ECAC Division III Indoor Championships, and he competed at the 2010 USA Track & Field National Championships last June. Woodruff will run in the 2011 ECAC Division III Outdoor Championships at Rocco Calvo Field and Timothy Breidegam Track here in Bethlehem on May 19th and 20th as a final tune-up to the NCAA meet later this month.
Python was named the Landmark Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year and to the Landmark All-Conference Team on Tuesday. Python, who was the 2008 Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year and on the All-Conference First Team, has a 14-0 record this year with a 0.65 ERA, six shutouts, 23 walks and 85 strikeouts in 86.1 innings of work. At the plate, Python has five hits, three runs, two doubles, a triple and six RBIs while helping the 21st-ranked Greyhounds to their fourth straight Landmark Conference Championship and 12th consecutive conference title. In her career, Python is 41-9 with a 1.33 ERA, 15 shutouts, three no-hitters with one perfect game and 236 strikeouts in 326 innings of action, and she was the winning pitcher in each of the last three Landmark Conference Championship games. Python has a 3.45 grade point average, and she is majoring in psychology.
Hersch, who was named to the National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Honor Society last week, played in all 11 games this season for Moravian as the Greyhounds finished the year 7-4 and won the 2010 ECAC Division III Southeast Championship Bowl Game. Hersch caught 32 passes for 489 yards and three touchdowns. Hersch, who was on the 2008 and 2009 Centennial Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll, also had 24 punt returns for 194 yards and six kickoff returns for 119 yards this season. Hersch completed his career with .68 receptions for 990 yards and six touchdowns in 41 career games, and he added two rushes for 40 yards, ten tackles, 51 punt returns for 339 yards and 24 kickoff returns for 469 yards. Hersch has a 3.70 grade point average, and he is majoring in accounting with a minor in business management.