Update the CSU Athletic Director sent out today, impressive how information is shared with the Viking fan base:
Viking Fans,
As I sit on my balcony overlooking the tee-box on Hole 9 at El Campeon for the Horizon League Golf Championship in Florida, I am emotionally reflective and so incredibly honored and grateful to celebrate my four-year anniversary as Cleveland State's Director of Athletics.
I am thrilled to enter Year Five, to continue to work with President Bloomberg and our supportive CSU faculty and staff community, to engage regularly with our fans, alumni and donors, and to lead our staff and coaches in delivering a transformational experience for Viking student-athletes on a daily basis.
April has been another busy month of activity for Cleveland State Athletics! We are so proud of the accomplishments of our student-athletes, coaches and staff that, with just a few more weeks to go, have made 2022-23 one of the best years in the history of CSU Athletics!
We have plenty to highlight this month including a basketball contract extension, fundraising success, spring sports in full swing, and much more. Enjoy the recap below!
COACH KIELSMEIER SIGNS CONTRACT EXTENSION
After a record-breaking campaign this season, we recently announced an extension of terms for head women's basketball coach Chris Kielsmeier. Chris has done an amazing job leading our program to new heights and we are excited to see continued championship-level success in the future under his leadership.
Coach K led the Vikings to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history by winning the 2023 Horizon League Tournament title. Kielsmeier guided the Vikings to a program-record 30 wins and has amassed 96 wins in his CSU tenure so far.
Destiny Leo, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year and Division I-AAA Scholar-Athlete Team Honoree, returns next season along with a strong supporting cast of veteran players poised to compete for another Horizon League championship and a fourth-straight postseason appearance.
THANK YOU MEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON TICKET HOLDERS
Last week, we hosted a fun event for our 2022-23 basketball season ticket holders to wrap up the season and thank them for their support. It was a great evening at Forest City Brewery and an awesome opportunity for our coaches, student-athletes and staff to connect with our supporters and reflect on a successful year for the men's and women's basketball squads.
Men's basketball is well-positioned for continued success headed into year two for Head Coach Daniyal Robinson. Our 21 wins this past season are the most for a first-year head coach in Cleveland State history. Our coaches are already hard at work recruiting, training, and scheduling for next season as we seek a fourth straight postseason appearance for the first time in program history.
Season ticket deposits for next year are available now and we look forward to continuing to grow the crowds in the Wolstein Center next season to see a team that will return a nice core of student-athletes, including Tristan Enaruna who was named First Team All-Horizon League player this past season.
LAUNCHING LEADERSHIP LUNCHES
We recently expanded our student-athlete leadership development activities with a series of lunches aimed at connecting me and our senior athletics team with our 2023-24 "captain" student-athletes in each of our 19 sport programs.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have enjoyed quality time with Pablo Kawecki and Bojan Kolevski in men's soccer and Lina Feltovich and Grace Krosky in women's soccer. The conversations have been engaging and informative and will assist in our continued efforts to win championships in the community, classroom and competition. The joy and passion our student-athletes carry for CSU is impressive and infectious! We look forward to continuing this initiative with the rest of our programs into the fall semester.
SPRING SPORTS SUCCESS
Spring sports teams have been hard at work over the past month, and we are excited to see what is next as we push towards the final couple of weeks of the regular season and into championship play.
Men's tennis recently wrapped up a Horizon League North Division title and finished regular season play with a 7-1 record in league matches. Coach Etzkin has the team competing at a high level, winning eight of their last nine matches. Maxime Mareschal-Hay has been outstanding at the top of our singles lineup as he finished regular season play unbeaten against league foes. The Vikings will begin #HLTennis Tournament play as the No. 1 seed in the North on Saturday, April 29.
Our golf teams have played one round each here at Mission Inn in Florida. Both teams came in with nice momentum after finishing second in their final regular season tournaments. The men had two top-10 finishers in Andrew Kaye and Gunnar McCollins. Brynna Mardis, a freshman on our women's team, won her first ever tournament in a playoff which featured her teammate, senior Sabrina Coffman, along with two others. Keep an eye on the live scoreboard through the final round on Tuesday!
Softball is currently 10-7 in Horizon League play and have won four of their last five series against Horizon League opponents. Melissa Holzopfel threw a no-hitter a few weeks ago at Northern Kentucky and has won multiple Pitcher of the Week awards from the league for her efforts. The team is currently fourth in the league standings with six games remaining in the regular season #HLSoft slate.
Women's tennis finished regular season play sitting in second place in the league standings with a 5-1 record. Oihane Vicario recently took home her second straight Horizon League Women's Singles Player of the Week award, while finishing regular season league competition with a perfect 6-0 singles record. The women's team will enter the Horizon League tournament as the No. 2 seed.
I enjoyed traveling with men's lacrosse to see an 11-8 win over Mercer at the beginning of April. The team has one final regular season game versus Detroit-Mercy on Saturday at Krenzler Field – tickets available HERE - as they look to finish out the home schedule on a high note. Congratulations to redshirt sophomore defender Reggie Regala who was recently announced as our next SAAC President for the 2023-24 academic year – we are looking forward to Reggie's leadership presence and impact representing his fellow student-athletes!
CONTINUED FUNDRAISING SUCCESS
As we wrap up the 2022-23 academic year it is once again time to celebrate record-growth in support from our friends, fans, alumni and community. For the 2nd year in a row, giving to CSU Athletics will eclipse the $1 million mark, with a record $1.2 million in gifts logged already this year.
Gifts have benefited the Viking Fund, each of our 19 teams, and – most recently – our Woodling Gymnasium Enhancement Initiative which has over $500,000 pledged towards nearly $1.5 million in phased improvements identified.
We encourage you to consider helping close out another record-setting year with a gift to the Vikings! Every donation impacts our delivery of a transformational student-athlete experience in one or more ways. As our golf and tennis programs compete for league championships in the coming days, we encourage everyone to consider donating to the Chasing Championships fundraising initiative found HERE.
CELEBRATING ACADEMIC SUCCESS
This past week, we honored an incredible group of 253 student-athletes for their continued success in the classroom as part of the 31st annual John Konstantinos Academic Honors Luncheon.
The gathering is one of my favorite events of the year and brings together each student-athlete that carries a 3.25 GPA or higher.
A number of student-athletes were specially recognized with individual awards including:
-Best of the Best Team GPA Award: Women's Fencing, 3.78 GPA
-President's Award: Lina Feltovich, Women's Soccer
-John McClendon Award: Jannis Schmidt, Men's Soccer
-Konstantinos Family Scholarship: Audrey McConihe, Volleyball
-James LaMastra Award: Mikael Erler, Men's Tennis
We are looking forward to seeing many of our student-athletes graduate from CSU at commencement on May 13!
Thanks as always for your continued, loyal support. Please visit
www.csuvikings.com or follow us on social media, and feel free to email in your thoughts or questions to me at CSUDirectorOfAthletics@csuohio.edu.