Hall of Famers Danny Williams, Roger Welch
Sportsmanship and athletic excellence during the 2013-14 academic year were honored at the College of Southern Maryland’s athletic awards banquet held at the Greater Waldorf Jaycees Community Center on May 7.
During the ceremony, CSM inducted Roger Welch, 2002 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Golf Champion and CSM alum, and longtime coach and retired faculty member Danny Williams.
Coaches from CSM’s athletics department presented awards for accomplishments in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball, men’s lacrosse, women’s cross-country and golf.
Sophomore Alysse Houston of Hughesville was named the Female Athlete of the Year. “Alysse [who played forward for women’s soccer] led the team serving as a captain as well as having the highest goals-per-average against ranked teams,” said CSM Women’s Soccer Coach Adam Sanchez.
Freshman Sean Bucior of Mechanicsville was selected as this year’s Male Athlete of the Year. Bucior, a forward for the men’s soccer team, “was one of the toughest players we had on the team,” said CSM Men’s Soccer Coach Derek Dyson. “He was named a NJCAA All-American and his performance demonstrated his talent.”
CSM athletes who received recognition from the Maryland Junior College (MDJUCO) Athletic Conference and Region XX, included:
Volleyball
All-Region XX Division 2 First Team honors went to Alexis Cox of La Plata; and All-Region XX Division 2 Second Team honors and All-MDJUCO Second Team honors went to Taylor White of Waldorf. Kelly Flaherty of Brandywine earned CSMs Most Improved Player. The volleyball team, coached by Pat Brewer in his third season, Nila Straka in her eighth season and Ron Swann in his ninth season, finished the season 17-17.
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team finished the season 17-3-0 as MDJUCO Champions, Region XX Champions, District L Champions and sixth in the country. CSM Women’s Soccer Head Coach Adam Sanchez, in his sixth season, was named National Soccer Coaches of America Association (NSCAA) Regional Coach of the Year, MDJUCO Coach of the Year and Region XX Coach of the Year.
NSCAA All-American 1st Team and NJCAA All-American 2nd Team honors went to Briana Williams of Waldorf. NJCAA All-American 3rd Team honors went to Alysse Houston of Hughesville. All-Region XX Division I First Team honors went to Houston, Sabrina Paz of Hollywood, Briana Williams and Taylor Superior of Leonardtown. Honorable Mention Region XX went to Laura Shaner of Leonardtown. All-Tournament Team Region XX honors went to Houston, Briana Williams, Sydney Williams of Waldorf and Superior. All-MDJUCO First Team honors went to Houston, Briana Williams and Paz. All-MDJUCO Second Team honors went to Superior and Shaner. CSM Coach’s Awards went to Jasmine Biggs of Fort Washington and Paz.
The women’s soccer assistant coach, in his third season, is Tony Galeano. For more on women’s soccer, visit http://www.csmd.edu/news/archive/2013/785164179dc46c4f67b6c798a70eb63d5bc3f536.html.
Women’s Cross-Country
For the inaugural season, Jackie Clark of La Plata earned CSM Most Valuable Runner and Peyton Reynolds of Waldorf earned CSM Most Dedicated Runner. Christopher Tuttle and Josh Trice were coaches for this first-year program.
Men’s Soccer
NJCAA All-American First Team honors went to Sean Bucior of Mechanicsville; All-Region XX Division 1 First Team honors went to Bucior and Lee Clark of England; All-Region XX Division I Second Team honors went to Kevin Christian of Waldorf; All-MDJUCO First Team honors went to Bucior; and All-MDJUCO Second Team honors went to Clark and James Pollock of Lexington Park.
Albert Granados-Alvarez of Adelphi earned CSM Most Valuable Player. Clark earned CSM Coachs Player. The mens soccer team, coached by Derek Dyson in his third year finished 9-6-1. The staff included assistant coach Al Reza in his fourth year, and team assistants Kyle Toepfer, Ryan Garvin and William “Pete” Thomas, and team manager Jason Mendoza.
Women’s Basketball
Taylor White of Waldorf was named All-MDJUCO Second Team, All-Region XX Division 2 Second Team and CSM Most Outstanding Player. Brittany Logan of Fort Washington earned the CSM Coach’s Award. Maekala Bryant of Waldorf earned the CSM Toughness Award. The womens basketball team, coached by Andrew Norris in his third season, finished the season 11-11. Assistant coaches included Ed Sullivan in his third season, and Jerome Cooke and Tim Bowie in their second seasons.
Men’s Basketball
Sophomore Juwan Cole of Forestville was named All-MDJUCO Second Team, All-Region XX Division 2 Second Team, All-Tournament Team Region XX and CSM Most Valuable Player. Sigourney Jackson of Waldorf earned the CSM Coach’s Award. The men’s basketball team, coached by Alan Hoyt in his seventh season, finished with an 18-10 season. Assistant coaches were Eddie Roberts in his fourth season, and Burton Moody and Byron Morgan in their third seasons.
Men’s Lacrosse
In the men’s lacrosse inaugural season, Nolan Stewart of Hollywood earned the CSM Coach’s Award. Rome Santos of Fort Washington earned CSM’s Most Valuable Player. The team, coached by Justin Ryan, finished the season at 2-9. Assistant coaches included Andrew Lundeen and Brian Colligan. For more on lacrosse, visit http://www.csmd.edu/news/archive/2014/27f491dfe67736f2fcc2bea66f408ad89de5e4c0.html.
Baseball
Hunter Mohler of La Plata earned CSM’s Most Valuable Player. The baseball team, coached by Jack Cheseldine in his first season, finished at 14-24. Assistant coaches included Aaron Michael in his sixth season and Scott Middleton in his first season.
Softball
Region XX Division 2 First Team honors went to Alyssa Peregoy of Hughesville, who was also named to the All-MDJUCO First Team and earned the CSM Offensive Player of the Year Award. Region XX Division 2 Second Team honors went to Melody Gibbons of Bryans Road and Caitlin Gordon of Cheltenham. All-MDJUCO Second Team honors went to Danielle Watt of St. Leonard and Gibbons. Gordon received the CSM Pitchers Award and Taylor Croson of La Plata earned CSM Most Improved Player. The softball team, coached by Jim Cleary in his first season, finished at 21-13. Assistant coaches included John Creaturo in his 22nd season, Bill Hitte in his 10th season and Joe Therres in his first season.
Golf
George Bowie of Port Tobacco earned CSM Most Valuable Player. Bowie and Stephen Tucker of Huntingtown were named All-MDJUCO First Team. Cody Jameson of Leonardtown was named All-MDJUCO Second Team. The golf team, coached by Ned Spearbeck in his third season, ranked third in All-MDJUCO Tournament and captured the Region XX Championship which moves them into the next round of competition. The team of George Bowie of Port Tobacco, Cody Jameson of Leonardtown, Nicholas Jerome and Jonathan Parsons of Mechanicsville and Stephen Tucker of Huntingtown will make the trip to the Division 2 National Championship at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Indiana, May 20-23. Assistant coach Kyle Carranza was in his first season with the team.
To view photos from the Athletic Banquet and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, visit http://csmphoto.zenfolio.com/14athbanquet.
For more on CSM Athletics, visit http://www.csmd.edu/athletics/index.html.
Sidebar
CSM Hall of Fame Inductees
Roger Welch
Roger Welch attended CSM his freshman year and played on the 2002 golf team. He medaled in every golf match that year except for the Regionals where he lost a tie-breaker to earn second place and qualify for the nationals.
“The tie breaker was the 37th hole, par-three in a thunderstorm. In Roger’s backswing a passing car honked and he never complained,” said Welch’s former golf coach Danny Williams at the CSM Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
At the nationals at Palm Valley in Phoenix, Welch took his consistent play to a new level. On the first day Welch scored a 71 and was in a seven-way tie for first. In his second round, Welsh scored and even better 68, followed by 71s in the last two rounds.
“Roger had won the NJCAA National Championship by 7-under par and five strokes. There were only two other players under par out of 139 golfers. This was truly a great accomplishment,” said Williams.
Going into the nationals, Welch was not on too many colleges’ radar. At the conclusion of the competition, Welch had five offers from Division I schools for full scholarships.
He chose to attend Southern Illinois where he finished in the top 10 nationally multiple times and served as team caption 2005-06. Following graduation, Welch joined the professional tour and in September 2006 made his first cut and his best finish on the mini-tour at third place.
After a five-year break, Welch resumed golf in 2012 and won his first tournament that August. He is currently ranked 10th in the Gateway PGA Section and is the head golf professional at Cape Girardeau Country Club in Missouri.
Welch will be competing at the local qualifier in St. Louis for the U.S. Open Tournament.
Danny Williams
Danny Williams began his career at Charles County Community College as a student in 1966, graduated in 1968 and began teaching in 1970. Over his 41 years of service to the college, he taught health, fitness and strength training, and served as coach for a number of sports. Williams retired in 2011.
As the college was growing, Williams added men’s tennis, men’s soccer, softball, women’s basketball and golf. He served one season as women’s basketball coach, one season as head coach and one season as assistant coach for women’s tennis coach, two seasons as assistant coach for baseball, three seasons as head coach for softball, five seasons as head coach for men’s soccer, 10 seasons as assistant coach for men’s basketball, 17 seasons as head coach for men’s tennis and 25 seasons as head golf coach, totaling 41 years of coaching and 65 different seasons.
Williams’ teams earned five conference championships, three regional championships and one national championship, as well as being named coach-of-the-year two times.
“Danny was the ultimate coach in showing by example. The year Roger [Welch] won the National Championship in 2002, Coach Williams won the Coach’s Tournament which is held before the student athletes compete. So CSM swept the national championship that year,” said CSM Student Life and Athletics Lead Director Michelle Ruble.