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Centennial Conference Athletics

Athletes of the Week: March 20-26

Athletes of the Week: March 20-26
Posted: Mar 28, 2023

LANCASTER, Pa. -- All ten Centennial Conference spring sports are now underway with this week featuring the first outdoor track & field and golf awards of 2023. Conference plays has already begun in lacrosse and tennis and will kick off this weekend in baseball and softball. 

Mary Beth Hurley of Johns Hopkins women's tennis earned CC weekly honors for the second time this spring to lead this week's award recipients. Other winners included Shawn Steuerer of Johns Hopkins baseball, Liam Alpern of Swarthmore baseball, Alexandra Simon and Sarah Schab of Swarthmore softball, Jack Kraemer of Muhlenberg men's lacrosse, Gabe Velasquez of Washington College men's lacrosse, Tiffany Mikulis of Haverford women's lacrosse, Lily Macatee of Gettysburg women's lacrosse, Thomas Yu of Johns Hopkins men's tennis, Tyren Proctor of McDaniel men's track & field, Isaiah Battle of Ursinus men's track & field, Darya Mikusova of Dickinson women's track & field, and Isabelle Deal of Ursinus women's track & field. 

Continue reading below for more information on each of this week's honorees. 

Visit Centennial.org for more information on Centennial Conference athletics. Also, be sure to like the Centennial on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow @CentennialConf on Twitter and Instagram. 

 

BASEBALL

Player of the Week
 Shawn Steuerer, So., INF, Johns Hopkins
 Wellington, Fla. | Oxbridge Academy
 Steuerer swung a hot bat in five games over the past week, going 11-for-24 with four extra-base hits and seven RBIs in a 5-0 week for Johns Hopkins in Florida. Steuerer had a 4-for-5 performance in a 12-3 win over seventh-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In the final three games of the week, Steuerer went a combined 7-for-15 with a double, two triples, and a homer and seven RBIs. Steuerer is currently tied for the team lead in homers with six and boasts a .375 batting average to this point.

Pitcher of the Week
Liam Alpern, So., LHP, Swarthmore
Long Beach, Calif. | Long Beach Poly
Alpern tossed six shutout innings as he secured his first career win in a win at Ramapo. The sophomore struck out a career-high nine batters and allowed just three hits and four baserunners on the afternoon. Alpern has a 1.57 ERA in 23.0 innings this year. Swarthmore went 3-1 on the week with wins over Ramapo, Eastern and MIT.

SOFTBALL

 Player of the Week
 Alexandra Simon, Jr., SS, Swarthmore
 Hollywood, Fla. | Chaminade Madonna College Prep
 Simon hit .545 with six hits, three runs scored, three RBIs and two walks in a 4-0 week for Swarthmore. The shortstop capped off the week with a 3-for-4 performance against Neumann on Sunday. Simon had a .615 on-base percentage and a .750 slugging percentage for the week in sweeps over Widener and Neumann. 

Pitcher of the Week
Sarah Schab, So., RHP, Swarthmore
Sandy Springs, Ga. | Mount Vernon Presbyterian School
Schab went 2-0 in two starts last week, including a combined no-hitter in a 7-0 victory over Neumann on Sunday. Against Neumann, the sophomore tossed five hitless innings, striking out four batters to combine with Emily Bertrand for the no-hitter. Schab also picked up a second win this week in a darkness-shortened victory over Widener, where she went three innings with two earned runs.

MEN'S LACROSSE

Offensive Player of the Week
Jack Kraemer, Sr., A, Muhlenberg
Ridgewood, N.J. | Ridgewood 
Kraemer scored the tying and winning goals 56 seconds apart late in the fourth quarter to give Muhlenberg an 11-10 win against 10th-ranked Dickinson - the Mules' first win ever against the defending Centennial Conference champion in men's lacrosse. Kraemer netted an unassisted goal with 4:07 left to tie the game at 10-10, then scored the winner in transition with 3:11 remaining. He also had an assist in the game.

Defensive Player of the Week
Gabe Velasquez, Jr., M, Washington College
Middletown, Del. | Appoquinimink
Velasquez won 76.7% of his face-offs (23-for-30), scooped up 18 ground balls and added two goals and two assists in a 2-0 week for the Shoremen. On Wednesday in a 22-11 win over Oberlin, he went 14-for-16 at the X, picked up 10 ground balls and handed out two assists as he led all players in face-off wins and ground balls. On Saturday in a 14-4 win over visiting McDaniel, he won a game-high nine face-offs, scored twice and picked up a contest-topping eight ground balls.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE

Offensive Player of the Week
 Tiffany Mikulis, So., M, Haverford
 Hopkinton, Mass. | Hopkinton
 Mikulis tallied four goals and two assists, including the game-winning goal with just 70 seconds left, as Haverford took the conference opener from Dickinson in Carlisle. She added six ground balls and four draw controls in a solid all-around effort to pace Haverford.

Defensive Player of the Week
Lily Macatee, So., D, Gettysburg
Street, Md. | North Harford
Macatee led the Bullets to a 2-0 week, recording four caused turnovers, three ground balls and seven draw controls on the week. She had six draw wins and three caused turnovers in a 21-6 victory over Catholic. She added one of each in the conference opener at Swarthmore - a 15-4 win.

MEN'S TENNIS

Athlete of the Week
 Thomas Yu, Jr., Johns Hopkins
 Bellevue, Wash. | Bellevue 
 Yu led Johns Hopkins to a 4-2 week with five of the six matches coming against top-20 teams. He went 4-2 at No. 1 singles and 5-1 at first doubles. His only doubles loss came to the second-ranked doubles team from No. 5 Tufts. He clinched the wins over No. 17 Chapman and No. 15 Caltech. His singles win in the last match of the week against Whittier was the 100th win of his career. Yu is the fastest player in program history to 100 wins as he needed just 124 matches.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Athlete of the Week
Mary Beth Hurley, Gr., Johns Hopkins
Novi, Mich. | IMG Academy
Hurley earned Player of the Week honors for the second time this spring after leading Johns Hopkins to a 3-0 week, including wins over No. 24 Colby and at No. 15 Trinity (Texas). She went 2-0 at No. 2 singles and 3-0 in doubles (1-0 at No. 1 and 2-0 at No. 2). Her win at No. 2 doubles versus Trinity came against the 16th-ranked doubles team in the nation. Hurley clinched the wins over Colby (6-3) and Trinity (6-3).

MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD 

Track Athlete of the Week
Tyren Proctor, Jr., McDaniel
Westminster, Md. | North Point
Proctor posted the top time in the Centennial and 37th-fastest time in Division III in the 110 hurdles at the Blue & Golf Goucher Classic. The junior crossed in 15.44 seconds to take first place in the event. 
 
Field Athlete of the Week
Isaiah Battle, Sr., Ursinus
Long Branch, N.J. | Long Branch
Battle smashed the Ursinus hammer throw record and posted the second-best mark in Centennial history in the Bears' home outdoor season-opening meet on Saturday afternoon. He won the event with his mark of 52.19 meters. Battle also finished second in the discus with a throw of 42.09m and registered a mark of 13.93m in the shot put. His hammer throw is ranked ninth in Division III while his shot put (t-45th) and discus (50th) marks are also among the top-50 on the national list. 

WOMEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD  

Track Athlete of the Week
Darya Mikusova, Jr., Dickinson
Niantic, Conn. | East Lyme
Mikusova posted the sixth-fastest time in Division III in the 400 hurdles at the Little Three Meet to open the outdoor season this past weekend. The junior crossed in 1:04.53 to take gold in the 400 hurdles. Mikusova also won the 100 hurdles in 16.24 seconds. 
 
 
Field Athlete of the Week
Isabelle Deal, Sr., Ursinus
Turnersville, N.J. | Washington Twp.
Deal recorded top-15 national marks in both the javelin and shot put at the rain-soaked Ursinus Spring Outdoor Invite on Saturday afternoon. She recorded a throw of 39.70 meters in the javelin and 12.32 meters in the shot put. Both performances lead the conference early in the spring season. The javelin mark ranks sixth in DIII while the shot put mark is 14th.