Sports Roundup

Paced by its football and women’s soccer teams, Emporia State University athletics have enjoyed a successful fall that still may bring a championship trophy — or two — to campus.

With a Harlon Hill Trophy candidate at quarterback and a nationally ranked offense, the football Hornets (8-3 overall, 7-3 in the MIAA) have qualified for a postseason bowl game for the third straight year and eighth time in the last 11 seasons. ESU will play Southern Nazarene of the Great American Conference in the Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Community Bank & Trust Stadium at Tiger Field in Corsicana, Texas.

Fans in select U.S. locations can watch the Hornets’ bowl game on these websites and television networks (please check your local listings for availability):

● YouTube.com/@heritagebowl. ● KMCI (Kansas City, Missouri). ● Nevada Sports Network (Reno, Las Vegas). ● Peachtree Sports Network (Atlanta). ● Yurview (Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Diego, Phoenix). ● KRIS (Corpus Christi, Texas). ● MASN (Baltimore, Washington, D.C.).

ESU quarterback Braden Gleason, a senior from Muldrow, Oklahoma, was a unanimous first-team All-MIAA choice this season and is one of 38 nominees for the 2023 Harlon Hill Trophy, which is awarded annually as the Division II College Football Player of the Year. He leads the nation in completion percentage, ranks second in touchdown passes and total offense, is third in completions and passing yards, and ranks sixth in passing efficiency. He holds the MIAA career record with 109 touchdown passes and set the ESU single-season record with 41 touchdown passes this year. He’s the Emporia State career record-holder with 11,113 passing yards and 109 touchdown passes.

Coach Garin Higgins’ team opened the season strong, winning four straight before a midseason lull that included three losses. The Hornets, however, have won the final three games, including a 45-42 victory over Fort Hays State on Nov. 11, to earn their bowl berth.

In other ESU sports this fall:

Basketball

After giving Kansas State a competitive showing in a Nov. 1 exhibition in Manhattan, ESU rebounded from an opening-season loss to North Carolina-Pembroke by winning six straight games by 10 points or more, including five in a row at White Auditorium.

Alijah Comithier, a senior from Cibolo, Texas, has been one of ESU’s standouts in the season’s first month. He was named the MIAA Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week last week after averaging 21 points and shooting 57.1 percent from the floor in the Hornets’ two most recent victories.

The Hornets, now 6-1 and ranked No. 24 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll, will open MIAA play Dec. 2 at home against Washburn University.

Cross Country

The Hornets recorded three top-five finishes -- including a first-place finish Oct. 6 in the ESU Invitational -- behind the performances of several runners. Jamie Diaz, a junior from Olathe, posted a top-20 finish with a 10-kilometer time of 31:07.80 in the NCAA Division II Central Regional Cross Country Championships. ESU finished 16th in the 29-team field.

Diaz, who earned All-Region honors from the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association, led ESU in every meet this season and received All-MIAA honors with a fourth place finish at the conference championships -- the highest finish for a Hornet since 1996.

Tennis

ESU won eight matches Oct. 21-22 at the two-day Washburn Invitational in Topeka. The Hornets also won seven matches Sept. 18 at the ITA Central Regional Championships in Topeka, and then went a combined 10-6 in singles play in the Southwest Baptist University Fall Invitational Sept. 24 in Bolivar, Missouri.

Anton Sarunic, a sophomore from Opatija, Croatia, went 5-3 during individual tournament play in the fall and is ranked No. 12 in the first ITA NCAA Division II regional singles and doubles rankings.

Disc Golf

ESU’s renowned men’s team are ranked 17th in the first College Disc Golf Power rankings. The Hornets’ No. 1 of Justin Farrell, T.J. Reel and Cade Kohlmeier shot a score of 23-under to beat ESU’s No. 2 team of Abram Brazzle, Troy Smart, Caden Stucky and Grant Yoder by four strokes in the Kansas Collegiate Disc Golf Tour in Lawrence on Nov. 11 with a score of 9-over par. ESU finishes its fall schedule Dec. 2 at Wichita State.

Women’s teams

Soccer

Led by Mackenzie Dimarco and Hannah Woolery, ESU has won a school-record 10 straight matches and will play Friday, Dec. 1, in its second consecutive Central Region Championship match against Washburn University in Ashland, Ohio.

The Hornets (14-5-4) beat Bemidji State University, 2-1, to advance to the region’s title match. In that victory, DiMarco scored her 83rd career goal, which puts her in the top 20 all-time in Division II history. Woolery’s goal against Bemidji State moved her into the top 10 for career points in the MIAA with 89.

The Hornets have posted nine straight winning seasons, played in six straight MIAA tournaments and made three straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Volleyball

One season removed from a 4-25 season, ESU’s volleyball team enjoyed a nine-game improvement in 2023, finishing with a 13-16 record, and qualified for postseason play under first-year coach Ken Murczek. The Hornets’ season ended Nov. 16 in a 3-0 loss to top-seeded Central Missouri in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament in St. Joseph, Missouri.

The tournament berth was ESU’s first in five years.

Two Hornets earned spots on the All-MIAA team selected by the conference’s coaches. Sandora Sasaki, a junior from Kawasaki, Japan, was named first-team All-MIAA, and Brailee Bogle, a freshman setter from Wichita, earned honorable mention. Sasaki led the MIAA this season with 486 kills and a 4.81 kills-per-set average. Bogle became a presence in the Hornets’ lineup, recording 899 assists and averaging 9.08 assists per set.

Basketball

The Hornets opened their season by winning two of their first five games, including a 100-37 win over Avila University of Kansas City on Nov. 27. ESU won its first game, 66-57, over Bellevue University on Nov. 18.

The Hornets, who were 14-15 last season, are in their first year under head coach Brian Ostermann, a long-time assistant coach at Kansas State University. ESU begins MIAA play Dec. 2 at home against Washburn University.

Cross Country

Led by Tayler Williams, a junior from Overland Park, Kansas, the Hornets enjoyed two top-five team finishes and had several athletes participate Nov. 4 in the NCAA Central Regional Championships in Joplin, Missouri. Williams posted ESU’s best time in the six-kilometer race, finishing in 23:03.96, with Catherine Lyon (24:03.05) and Elizabeth Willhite (26:10.03) also in the field.  

Williams also ran well in the MIAA Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, finishing 26th with a time of 22:50.2. ESU finished 11th in the team competition.

Disc Golf

The Hornets have been impressive at the start of the 2023-24 season, earning a No. 13 national ranking in the first College Disc Golf Power rankings. ESU’s No. 1 team of Atlanta Krueger and Maya Ringgold won the women’s division of the Kansas Collegiate Disc Golf Tour in Lawrence on Nov. 11 with a score of 9-over par. ESU finishes its fall schedule Dec. 2 at Wichita State.

Tennis

In a limited fall schedule, ESU played well in the ITA Central Regional Championships Sept. 24 in Edmond, Oklahoma, where every Hornet won a match in either singles or doubles play. ESU won 13 matches in a two-day tournament Oct. 21-22 at the Washburn Invitational in Topeka.