January 20, 2000
SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - Don't let these frigid, barren days of winter leave you out in the cold when it comes to winter sports story ideas. Susquehanna University has an abundance of stories for the final month-and-a-half of the winter season.
HRIMARKABLE! Women's basketball head coach Mark Hribar became Susquehanna's winningest basketball coach on November 26 with his team's 82-68 victory over Denison - giving him 202 career wins. He passed current Director of Athletics Don Harnum, who had 201 wins in his 14 seasons as men's basketball coach (1969-71, '76-87, '88-89). Now in his 13th-year, Hribar is 208-108 (.658) and had guided the team to 11-straight winning seasons, 10-straight trips to the Middle Atlantic Conference playoffs, three MAC Championship Game appearances, and four NCAA Tournament bids. He may be having his best season as a coach. Despite losing senior tri-captain and star center Karyn Kern (26.2 ppg, 13.2 rpg) to a season-ending knee injury in the fifth game, and starting junior power forward Mandy Horner for the final five games of the first semester with a foot injury, Hribar still had his team at 9-4 through January 18. He also lost top recruit and freshman point guard Shannon Baker to a season-ending knee injury in the intrasquad scrimmage.
CONTACT: Mark Hribar, women's basketball head coach, (570) 372-4276 (o), (570) 743-0206 (h)
FINELY-TUNED ATHLETES. The Susquehanna men's basketball team has probably been the surprise of the MAC this winter with a 9-4 start which includes receiving votes in the first NCAA Division III Middle Atlantic Region rankings. With just one primary starter back from last season's disappointing 9-14 campaign, the Crusaders were picked to finish fifth in the MAC Commonwealth Conference according to the preseason coaches' poll. This year's team could be the most athletic ever under 11th-year head coach Frank Marcinek, and he won't dispute that claim with six multiple-sport athletes on the varsity roster. Of course, it hasn't hurt that senior guard and co-captain Rob Makarewicz (16.6 ppg) (Sugarloaf/Hazleton Area H.S.) has regained the shooting touch which made him a second-team MAC Commonwealth All-Star as a sophomore, while junior power forward Brad Rausch (9.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg) (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South H.S.) is playing like his freshman year when he made the MAC Commonwealth All-Rookie Team. Marcinek also landed 6-8 Zigmas Kaknevicius from Lithuania, by way of Long Island Lutheran High School, as his true starting center.
CONTACT: Frank Marcinek, men's basketball head coach, (570) 372-4230 (o), (570) 648-0769 (h)
HAVING A HOME MAC ATTACK. Susquehanna will host the MAC Swimming Championships for the first time in school history on Friday through Sunday, February 18-20. While there is natural excitement associated with having the conference championships at home for the first time, 21st-year Crusader head coach Ged Schweikert is also excited because he has his strongest women's team in years. The 1999-2000 Crusader women have no less than three swimmers who have set individual school records in junior tri-captain Charlotte Murray (Hummelstown/Hershey H.S.) (500-yard free, 1,000-free, 1,650-free), sophomore Michelle Badorf (Lancaster/Penn Manor H.S.) (200-free, 200-back), and freshman Katie McKeever (Worcester/Methacton H.S.) (200-breast twice this season).
CONTACT: Ged Schweikert, m/w swimming coach, (570) 372-4299 (o), (570) 966-9542 (h)
#msf/1465#
