OSWEGO, NY — On Sunday, September 13th, SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley released new guidelines and restrictions regarding on campus activity for the Fall 2020 semester. One of these restrictions regards Oswego State Athletics as the college announced in a campus wide email that all practices, meetings, workouts, and gatherings will be suspended for the remainder of the semester. Since August 31st, the fall sports of Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Field Hockey, and Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams have been conducting practices and team meetings. This past week, Men’s and Women’s Tennis started their “non-traditional” practice season. This coming week, Volleyball would have joined the spring sports teams of Softball, Baseball, and the Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse would have started their four-week practice period.
With this change in policy, winter sports teams will not be able to prepare for their season until January 1st, the date set by the SUNYAC conference back on July 20th. This developing situation will continued to be monitored by WTOP 10 as the 2020 calendar year wraps up.
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Oswego State Athletics honors Outstanding Senior Athletes
OSWEGO, NY — This past week, Oswego State Athletics released the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete and Outstanding Senior Female Athlete winners. These awards are based on individual’s sole athletic career over the time spent in a Lakers uniform. Lukas Olsson of the Oswego State Baseball team received the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award while Sarah Yensan of the Oswego State Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field teams was awarded the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete for the 2019-2020 sports season.
Lukas Olsson appeared in 113 contests in the green and gold in his career position of catcher. The Bayport, New York native career was highlighted with three SUNYAC Conference Championship appearances along with two Division III World Series appearances. The 6’ 0” catcher put numbers up throughout his career, which featured a .318 batting average, 89 runs scored, and 79 RBIs over the course of his four seasons. Although the senior had a shortened season this spring, Olsson made the best of it with a batting average of .429 in 9 games played. In those games, the catcher had 9 runs at 35 at bats along with 14 RBIs. He helped lead the team to a strong start in which the group had a record of 6-3 which featured a four game win streak on the road.
Sarah Yensan, a native of Lockport, New York, was a part of the Women’s Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field teams for that past four years. After the addition of her new Assistant Coach Curtis Merrick in her sophomore year, Yensan began improving her long jump, which showed in 2018 at the Outdoor All-Atlantic Regional Meet with a new personal best of 5.68 meters. The following year, the long jumper would set a school record with a jump of 5.74 meters which qualified the junior for her first NCAA Division III National Championship. This past winter, she would jump 5.80 meters to qualify for her second Division III National Championship. Yensan was a five time All-Conference award winner, earning First Team honors in 2019 and 2020. The three-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region selection won these honors back in 2018, 2019, and 2020 in long jump.
Congratulations to the award winners and the rest of the graduating seniors for completing their college years. WTOP 10 would also like to extend congratulations to the Toppers graduating that have built our television station up with their involvement, the group appreciates the time you have put into the station. WTOP 10 will continue to give Oswego fan’s coverage of all Oswego sports into the summer before the return of fall sports. Schedules for most Laker teams will be released in the next two months, stay tuned.
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Coach Leone is SUNYAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Decade
OSWEGO, NY — On Thursday, the SUNYAC announced the All-Decade team for Men’s Basketball. Three Lakers would make the team along with Oswego Lakers Head Coach Jason Leone being named the SUNYAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Decade. Leone has been with the Lakers for nine seasons and has coached the team to four SUNYAC championships. The coach has a 181-75 (.707) overall record and a 114-48 (.704) conference record while at the helm of the team. Oswego has been to five NCAA tournaments which includes two trips to the Sweet 16. Coach Leone’s accolades include four SUNY Coach of the Year awards (2012, 2015, 2017, 2019) and three Regional Coach of the Year awards.
The Lakers went 19-8 last season and fell to the Brockport Golden Eagles in the semifinals round of the SUNYAC championship. The team posted a 7-3 home record along with going undefeated in neutral contests. Senior Joe Sullivan led the team with 14.6 points per game in front of freshman standout Jeremiah Sparks. The Men’s Basketball team will return next season after the conference postponed the winter season.
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Oswego State Softball Looks to Rebound After Geneseo
GENESEO, N.Y.– The Oswego State Lakers Softball team went into Geneseo on Friday to look for revenge after being swept on their homefield just a few weeks ago. It was all Geneseo though in the doubleheader today as they shut out the Lakers 7-0 in the first game and 6-0 in the second matchup of the day. The Lakers fall to 5-7 on the season and currently sit in third place in the SUNYAC West standings with a conference record of 4-6 after Friday’s results.
Holding the Lakers scoreless in the first game was Knights pitcher Nicole Schwartz who only allowed 6 hits the entire contest and still remains perfect at 5-0 this season at the mound. The Knights were able to jump out early with three different RBI’s which led to 5 runs in the second inning that would eventually seal the fate of Oswego State in the first game. Moving on to the second matchup of the day, once again it was Geneseo’s offense striking early. With three runs scored by the Knights in the first inning as well as two in the third and one in the 5th to cap off a 6-0 shutout in game two. As for Geneseo, they improve to 9-4 on the season and remain at the top of the SUNYAC West division. The Knights will have a little under a week off with their next contest not until Wednesday at SUNY Brockport.
Looking on from this contest the Lakers will look to rebound on a quick turn around as they face off against the Buffalo State Bengals today at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. at Laker Softball Field. Oswego State was able to sweep the last doubleheader against the Bengals with final scores of 8-5 and 9-7. Tune in today to watch the Lakers attempt to rebound with a doubleheader against Buffalo State and you can watch all the action on WTOP 10.
