Over the past decade, Marlins softball has become a national power under head coach Brandon Elliott with five ODAC titles and six NCAA Tournament appearances over the last seven years under his belt. We caught up with Coach Elliott prior to his Marlins winning the NCAA super regionals to talk about the growth and successes of his program.
In the 11th edition of the ODAC 40 features, we take a look back to a stellar 1992 spring campaign at Roanoke College that featured arguably the best combined season by a conference school's men's and women's lacrosse teams. Both the Maroons men's and women's programs won games in the NCAA Tournament after strong ODAC seasons.
In the 10th edition of the ODAC 40 features, we head about an hour east of the ODAC office to Hampden-Sydney to talk about a historic men's basketball team. The 1998-99 Tigers made a run all the way to the national championship game and finished as the Division III runner-up after a double-overtime thriller against Wisconsin-Platteville.
In the ninth installment of ODAC 40 features, we take a look back just a few years to a landmark moment in the athletic history of Randolph College. In 2014, a pair of riders became the first WildCat duo to compete at IHSA nationals, with one capturing the institution's first national championship in any sport.
In the eighth installment of ODAC 40 features, we highlight the conference's top awards in a pair of conversations with the first winners of the Marjorie Berkley and Harry G. "Doc" Jopson Awards. Former Eastern Mennonite University (then known as Eastern Mennonite College) volleyball star Becky (Derstine) Esch garnered the first Berkley Award in 1984, while former Washington and Lee University football and track & field standout Chip Nunley earned the inaugural Jopson Award in 1981.
Women's golf may be one of the newest sports in the ODAC, with competition beginning in the 2012-13 campaign, but it's already started developing its place in conference history. And that's where we turn to in the seventh edition of the ODAC 40 features as we look back just a few years to one of the first standouts of ODAC women's golf in former Hollins University national competitor Elizabeth Cheng.
In the sixth edition of the ODAC 40 top moment features, we are joined by Bridgewater College football head coach Mike Clark. He along with Brad Bankston and J.J. Nekoloff reminisce about the Eagles appearance in the 2001 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III Football National Championship Game.
In the fifth installment of the ODAC 40 top moments features, we look back just two years at the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship won by Lynchburg College. That season's version of Hornets went undefeated on the way to capturing the program's first national title in penalty kicks over William College. Head coach Dr. Todd Olsen and midfielder Sam Bagherpour, who was a midfielder and Elite 89 winner on that team, reminisce about LC's championship run.
In the fourth installment of the ODAC 40 top moments features, we take a look back at one of the greatest game-winning moments in conference history. On January 31, 2005, Guilford sophomore guard Jordan Snipes turned a missed free throw rebound into an 86-foot prayer of a game-winner to secure a 91-89 overtime win at Randolph-Macon. Quakers head coach Tom Palombo recalls that moment and the attention it received.
In the third installment of the ODAC 40 Top Moments features, we head to Randolph-Macon College to reminisce about a historic period in Yellow Jacket women's basketball history. Megan Schultz, formerly Megan Silva, and head coach Carroll LaHaye talk about reaching the national championship game in 2005 as well as about Schultz earning Division III national player of the year awards from several outlets.
In the second edition of the ODAC Top-40 features, we head back to the mid-1990's and zero in on Emory, Va., to talk a little football with legendary head coach Lou Wacker. The namesake of the ODAC's defensive player of the year award spent 23 seasons guiding Emory & Henry. Included in his tenure was a 37-game home winning streak from the end of 1991 to the end of 1998.
In the first installment of a new year-long feature from the ODAC, we go back to where it all began. The conference has had only two commissioners in its 40 years of competition and Dan Wooldridge remains involved in a number of ways. He got the ball rolling for the league when the ODAC officially opened its doors in the 1976-77 campaign, and played a major role in what has become 79 NCAA championships hosted in Salem, Va.
ODAC 40 Feature: The Growth of Virginia Wesleyan Softball
May 24, 2017Over the past decade, Marlins softball has become a national power under head coach Brandon Elliott with five ODAC titles and six NCAA Tournament appearances over the last seven years under his belt. We caught up with Coach Elliott prior to his Marlins winning the NCAA super regionals to talk about the growth and successes of his program.
