Cunningham garners second coaching honor in five seasons
In his fifth season at the helm of the Arizona Western women's basketball program, coach Patrick Cunningham was once again recognized for the job he's done building a program from scratch.
Cunningham was named the 2003-'04 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference and NJCAA Region I coach of the year. But he was very humble when talking about the honor.
"It's just a reflection of team's success. The players did all the work," Cunningham said.
It was the second time Cunningham received the coachng honor, taking home the prize in 2001-'01.
Cunningham is the only coach the program has had and he's guided his team to the NJCAA regional playoffs four times, played in the regional championship game three times and won the ACCAC and NJCAA Region I titles in 2001-'02, finishing No. 8 in the final NJCAA poll, and No. 17 in the 2002-'03.
The Matadors also had sophomore center Sugeiry Monsac named to the first-team all-conference and all-region squads, while sophomore guard Stephanie Wilkerson was selected second-team all-ACCAC.
SOFTBALL
The Matadors were recently featured on the ACCAC's Website for their outstanding hitting to start the season.
Christina Jimenez (.533), Emily Robinson (.473), Christan Johnston (.471) and Cassandra Burrell (.462) each rank in the top 10 in hitting in the conference as AWC has jumped to a 16-5-1 overall record and an 8-2 mark in the ACCAC.
The Matadors were in third place on Tuesday, a game behind Central Arizona (7-1) and two games back of Pima (10-0). They'll meet Pima in a doubleheader Friday in Tucson.
AWC's home doubleheader with Glendale on Tuesday was canceled due to rain and lightning.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the second inning, the home plate umpire immediately suspended the game after a lightning strike in the area, and 15 minutes later the doubleheader was canceled. A make-up date will be scheduled.
FOOTBALL
After three weeks on the practice field, the AWC football team will wrap up it's spring practices with a public intrasquad scrimmage Friday.
The scrimmage, will be the first of its kind for AWC, and takes place at 9 a.m. on the school's soccer field.
TRACK AND FIELD
Northern Arizona's Chris Gomez, a 2000 Cibola grad, competed in the Big Sky Conference Track and Field Indoor Championships for this past weekend.
Gomez ran the first leg of the men's distance medley relay, running the 1,200-meter leg in a time of 3:02.His relay team went on to win the conference title.
While at Cibola, Gomez was a numerous all-region selection in both cross country and track, and won several city titles.
If you have any information regarding past Yuma-area high school athletes now competing at the collegiate level, Chris Gabel can be reached at cgabel@yumasun.com or 539-6883.
