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WEEKLY ATHLETIC SCHEDULE

Wednesday, January 11

Women's Basketball at Florida Southern – Lakeland, Fla. – 5:30 p.m.
Men's Basketball at Florida Southern – Lakeland, Fla. – 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 14

Swimming vs. Sewanee – Alfond Pool – 1 p.m.
Women's Basketball vs. Lynn – Alfond S.C. – 2 p.m.
Men's Basketball vs. Lynn – Alfond S.C. – 4 p.m.

New York native Trevor Hughes showed no ill effects from the long holiday break and stayed on pace for a trip to nationals after a very busy first week of 2006. The junior scored a victory in the 100-yard butterfly and led Rollins to a victory at the Daytona Invitational on Wednesday in his first action since early December. Three days later, Hughes took part in three Rollins victories as the Tars steamrolled Westminster and Wingate in a double-dual meet at Alfond Pool. Battling chilly temperatures, he swam a leg on the Tars winning 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle teams as well as decisively winning the 100-yard butterfly. On the season in the 100-yard butterfly, Hughes has finished in the top two, including five victories, in each of the Tars seven competitions.

Continuing an already strong tradition of athletic and academic excellence, Rollins College student-athletes posted a combined 3.134 GPA for the fall semester, their ninth straight semester above 3.0. Of the 312 total student-athletes, 199 earned a 3.0 or better with 18 receiving perfect 4.0's. Student-athletes with a 3.0 or better are honored on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll. Women's golf earned the Sports Information Director's GPA Award with a 3.52 average for the term. Women's soccer was in second with a 3.50 average and women's cross country came in third with a 3.40 GPA.

Sporting the nation's sixth ranked defense and 24 th best offense, the Rollins women's basketball team continues to make it look easy and currently sits at a perfect 11-0 on the year and is ranked 11 th in the nation in the latest USA TODAY / ESPN Coaches Poll. In their first action in nearly a month last week, the Tars went 2-0 in Sunshine State Conference play with an 81-64 drubbing of Saint Leo, then came back to defeat Eckerd 64-50 on Saturday.

Glenn Wilkes' squad leads the SSC in every major statistical category, and leads all of Division II with a +14.9 rebounding margin. Senior forward Joslyn Giles (Winter Haven, Fla./Winter Haven) leads the conference in scoring with 17.5 a game (45 th in nation) and is ninth in rebounding with 7.7 per contest. Junior Larissa McDonough (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez) is also in double-figures, putting up 13.3 points, which ranks sixth best in the SSC. As a team, the Tars are outscoring opponents by an average of 25.2 points per game while holding them to 50.8 points per game. Rollins is also +13.5 in rebounding margin and +6.2 in turnover margin on the year.

Rollins hosted Saint Leo at the Alfond Sports Center on Wednesday and took a little while to shake the rust off, but came out on top 81-64. Giles led the Tars with 17 points and seven rebounds. Three other Tars scored in double digits as sophomore Rachael Workman (Northampton, Mass.) notched a career high 14 points, McDonough had 13 points and senior forward Randi Weiss (Kissimmee, Fla.) added 12 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Tabatha Curry (Bradenton, Fla.) had a career high seven points, going 3-4 from the free throw line.

The Lions were able to keep the Tars in check for most of the first half, holding the Tars to only a six-point advantage at the half. Rollins went ahead by as many as 11 in the first half, but the Lions continued to fight back and went on a 9-4 run the last 5:42 of the first half to narrow the lead to six. The second half saw the Tars pull away from Saint Leo, taking a 26-point lead with 3:24 to play. The Lions then went on a 14-5 run to end the game, cutting the Tars advantage at the final horn 81-64. Rollins was able to out-rebound Saint Leo 47-42 on the evening and held the Lions to 34.4% shooting (23-67). Each team was forced into 14 turnovers, while the Lions held an advantage with nine steals to the Tars' seven.

On Saturday, Rollins hosted Eckerd in another SSC match-up and once again struggled to find their groove early, but used a big second period and posted a 64-50 victory. Freshman guard Jennifer Dyer (Wake Forest, N.C.) had a career game for the Tars, going 7-9 from the field for a total of 14 points. Dyer scored eight of her points in the last 3:05 in the first half, leading an attack that moved the Tars from a three point advantage to a ten point lead at the half. Giles poured in 13 points and added a game high 10 rebounds, while fellow senior Sally Johnston (Winter Springs, Fla.) put up 11 points and sophomore Jennifer Musgrove (Palm Bay, Fla.) added 10 with each grabbing seven rebounds.

The Tritons were up by as many as five points with 11:26 remaining in the first half, but the Tars slowly cut the lead and moved ahead on Dyer's lay-up with 3:05 to go in the half. Behind Dyer's offensive explosion, Rollins was able to take a double digit lead, 36-26, into the half. The second half saw the Tritons continue to pressure the Tars, eventually forcing them into 11 turnovers in the second stanza alone, and 20 in the game. Rollins was able to grab a 16 point lead halfway through the second half, but the Tritons finished the remainder of the game on a 13-11 run, cutting the Tars eventual lead to 64-50.

The Rollins women's basketball team hits the road for a match-up with arch rival Florida Southern on Wednesday, January 11. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Lakeland. The Lady Mocs are 5-8 on the season and 1-1 in conference play, falling to Florida Gulf Coast 69-41 in their last outing. The Tars are back at home on Saturday, January 14 as they will host Lynn University at 2 p.m. in the Alfond Sports Center. The Fighting Knights and Tars are tied atop the SSC standings, each with 3-0 records. Lynn is 8-5 overall and is coming off a 70-66 victory over Tampa last week.

A very busy first week of 2006 provided some mid-season highlights for the Tars swim teams as they continued to turn in stellar times. The Rollins men improved their record to 4-3 in dual meets on the year while the women fell to 1-6 after an invitational and double-dual last week.

Rollins hosted the 5 th annual Daytona Invitational on Wednesday, January 4 th with the Tars men bringing home the team title, their second in school history, and the women coming in 7 th . The Rollins men compiled 503 points and edged out the University of the Cumberlands for the team title by eight points. Illinois Tech took third place with 643 points while Wingate University (339) and Bloomsburg University (272) rounded out the top five in the seven-team meet. Rollins finished in seventh place of nine schools in the women's division, rolling up 166 points against very tough competition. Wingate took first (548) with the University of the Cumberlands (495) and Bloomsburg University (376) making up the top three.

The Tars sprinters contributed the bulk of the points, but junior Trevor Hughes (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) stole the show, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 53.82, almost a full second ahead of the runner-up. Senior Bill Burris (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) took second place in the 50 freestyle in a time of 22.20 to go along with a fifth place in the 100 backstroke. Jeff Muller (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Prep) was the Tars workhorse, bringing home three top five finishes. He was fourth in the 1000 freestyle (10:25.38), fourth in the 100 freestyle (51.15), and finished up with a third place finish in the 200 IM (2:06.99). Sophomore Chris Sparks (Wilmington, Del/The Tatnall School) also had a busy day, recording a runner-up in the 200 breaststroke (2:22.03) and third place in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:05.19. Jonathan Mastin (Miami, Fla./Miami Country Day) in the 100 freestyle (3rd ; 50.62) and Daniel Paulling (Greenville, Tenn./Greenville) (5th ; 10:41.00) in the 1000-yard freestyle also had top five finishes for the Tars.

On the women's side, it was once again freshman Jessica Rothbiend (Pinehurst, N.C./The O'Neal School) leading the way for Rollins. The North Carolina youngster took fourth place in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:13.36 and fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:37.30. The Rollins women finished the day on an upswing, taking fourth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.68.

Frigid temperatures poolside had little effect on the Rollins swim teams as they put together a successful Saturday in a double dual with Westminster and Wingate. On the men's side, Rollins downed Westminster and Wingate each by a score of 52-43 while the women were defeated 80-15 by Westminster and 82-13 by Wingate.

Rothbiend took second place in the 100-yard breaststroke for the Rollins women, finishing in 1:11.41 and Corie Kelly (Longwood, Fla./Lake Brantley) finished third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:03.98 to highlight the Tars individual effort. The pair also teamed with Ashley Hunsberger (New Britain, Pa./Central Bucks West) and Casey Capron (Avon, N.J./St. Rose) to take third in the 200-yard medley in 2:00.48.

In the men's competition, the Tars swept the relay events and rolled up four individual victories. It began with an exciting victory in the 200-medley relay as the team of Burris, Sparks, Hughes and Carson Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) posted a winning time of 1:40.79. Burris then won the 50 freestyle in 21.90 with Nicely hot on his heels in second place in 22.73. Hughes added a victory in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.39 while Sparks won 100-yard breaststroke in 1:02.83.

Mueller took care of the distance events for Rollins, winning the 500 in 4:57.82 and taking second in the 1000 in 10:21.67. The day ended the same as it began as the Tars 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mastin, Hughes, Nicely and Burris won in 1:29.06.

The Rollins men's and women's swim teams will be right back at it on Saturday, January 14 as they will host Sewanee at 1 p.m. in the Alfond Pool. Sewanee, also known as the University of the South, is 1-3 in dual meets this season in both men's and women's swimming.

The Rollins men's basketball team put together one of their best all-around games of the season last week and disposed of Saint Leo 87-64, but couldn't get the shots to fall on Saturday and fell to Eckerd 66-55. The loss drops the Tars into a three-way log jam for second place in the SSC with a 3-1 conference mark. Sitting at 8-4 overall, the Tars have shown spurts of greatness throughout the first half of the season and are tough to beat when everything comes together.

The Tars are 22 nd in the nation in three point field goals per game with John Thinnes (Cincinnati, Ohio/ La Salle) ranked 12 th in the nation in three point field goal percentage, knocking down 48.1 percent per game. Junior guard Deon Troupe (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg) continues to pace the offense, posting 12.0 points per game, 15 th best in the SSC. Sophomore floor general Jonny Reibel adds 11.8 points per contest while dishing out 7.2 assists per game, which ranks second in the conference. Thinnes and Isaac Codrey (Winter Park, Fla./Lake Howell) are also in double figures, putting up 10.9 and 10.7 per game respectively.

Against Saint Leo, the Tars rolled up 50-second half points and ran past Saint Leo 87-64 for their third straight win. Rollins had three players in double figures on the night, led by Codrey, who scored a career high 20 points and grabbed three rebounds in 27 minutes of play. Reibel finished with a double double, netting 11 points and handing out a career best 11 assists. Troupe tied a season high with 18 points on three of five shooting from long distance with center Jordan Kolosey (St. Petersbug, Fla./St. Petersburg) adding eight points and six rebounds with Thinnes finishing with eight points and a career high seven rebounds.

Each team started slow out of the gate, but the Tars were able to gain a double-digit lead within the first seven minutes. Codrey hit the first of several lay-ups on the night with 13 minutes to go to put the Tars up 16-5. But the Lions would answer the Tars early outburst. A Michael Caulfield three pointer with nine minutes to go gave Saint Leo a 25-23 lead. The Lions would push their lead out to as much as six in the half, but Rollins would eventually take back the lead and went into the half up 37-36 on a pair of free throws by Troupe.

Rollins jumped on the Lions in the first two minutes of the second half with back-to-back treys by Deon Troupe and Jon Smith (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton). Rollins was able to push the lead out to 68-50 on a Nate Rusbosin (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) lay-in with 9:22 to go, and would never look back.

Saturday's home date with Eckerd didn't turn out as well for the Tars as a huge rebounding advantage for the Tritons proved to be a the deciding factor in Rollins' 66-55 defeat to the visitors from St. Petersburg. The Tars were led by Reibel, who finished the game with 13 points and five assists. Only one other Tar was in double figures as Thinnes put up 11 points on 3-6 from three-point range. Freshman forward Greg Sweeney (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) gave Rollins a nice boost off the bench as he finished with seven points.

The Tars started sluggish out of the gate once again. In the game's first ten minutes the Tars found themselves down double digits, 17-6 on a three pointer by Matt Cenatus. Rollins was able to battle back and get the game to within six as Thinnes hit a three pointer with five minutes remaining, but the Tars couldn't get any closer by the end of the half. They finished with a paltry 21 points in the first stanza and trailed by six, 27-21. Rollins was out-rebounded in the first half 23-13 and shot only 36 percent overall and 13 percent from three point. In the second half the Tars got some energy going with their long range arsenal. Thinnes came out and hit two three pointers and Reible added another, as the Tars grabbed their first lead of the game at 30-27. However, over the next five minutes the Tritons went on a 13-0 run to put Eckerd up 40-30 with 13:44 left to play. The Tars would battle back yet again and would even grab a one point lead at 42-41 on a Codrey three point play. But from there the Tars ran out of gas as the Tritons finished the game on a 25-13 run thanks mostly to superb foul shooting, and Eckerd took the game 66-55.

The Tars will look to rebound this week against two of the Sunshine State Conference's best teams. Rollins travels to Lakeland on Wednesday for a match-up with rival Florida Southern at 7:30 p.m. The Mocs fell to Tampa last Wednesday before bouncing back with a 77-71 win over Florida Gulf Coast to come into the clash with the Tars 10-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play. On Saturday, Rollins will look to play spoiler as they host SSC leader Lynn at 4 p.m. in Winter Park. The Fighting Knights are 3-0 in the SSC and 10-3 overall.

The annual Myers-Miller Rollins Team Golf Tournament will be held this year on Monday, April 24th at Interlachen Country Club . Save the date and look for more information next week at www.rollins.edu/athletics . This will be a tournament you will not want to miss!

Rollins women's golfer Catherine Hicks (Chattanooga, Tenn.) finished strong and took third place in the second flight of the Harder-Hall Invitational last week at Harder Hall Golf Course in Sebring, Florida. The freshman opened with back-to-back rounds of 83 and finished 79-78 for a four round total of 323.

Sponsorship is needed for the Tars men's and women's basketball broadcasts on WPRK 91.5. If you are interested, please contact Sports Information Director Nate Weyant at nweyant@rollins.edu or 407-646-2661.