| SPRING 2003... |
PENN STATE ALTOONA SPORTS
A Volleyball Legend Retires
Hedrick-Sheaffer Caps 27-Year Coaching Career
After more than a quarter century and nearly 500 victories, a Penn State Altoona coaching legend has called it a career. Tick Hedrick-Sheaffer, who nurtured the volleyball program from its infancy and piloted it to powerhouse status, retired from the profession at the end of the women's volleyball season this past fall. She will continue teaching on campus, a vocation to which she has dedicated three decades of her life.
 "I just felt that my body was telling me that now was the right time," Hedrick-Sheaffer said. "I got the program off the ground in the new division, going into Division III, and I just felt that now was the right time to go."
Hedrick-Sheaffer's career began when Penn State Altoona athletic teams competed at the junior college level. Through the 2002 season, her teams captured eight State Junior College Championships, 13 Commonwealth Campus titles and eight Western Pennsylvania Conference titles. In five seasons of competition at the Division III level, Penn State Altoona annually accorded itself extremely well against opponents with rosters laden with considerably more experienced juniors and seniors.
With 497 career wins illuminating the marquee of a brilliant career, Hedrick-Sheaffer is rightfully proud of the many championships and the student-athletes who have been recognized for their athletic and academic achievements over the years. An eleven-time conference coach of the year, Hedrick-Sheaffer is particularly grateful for the opportunity she had to significantly impact the lives of her charges on and off the court.
"If (the players) work hard in volleyball, it will carry on through their lives," Hedrick-Sheaffer remarked. "They can be successful in whatever they do, but I think they get a real strong foundation from athletics. This is a venue where they can excel with their bodies and, at the same time, utilize their minds."
Though so tantalizingly close to her personal goal of 500 career wins, Hedrick-Sheaffer has remained resolved to complete this one chapter in her life's work.
 "Tick is more than a coach," commented Fredina Ingold, director of athletics at Penn State Altoona and an assistant coach during the early years of the volleyball program. "She truly cares about her players in a maternal sense, and you will never find anyone who cares about young women more."
While conceding that her existence will be less stressful now than when she had the responsibility for directing a roster of fifteen young women, Hedrick-Sheaffer still finds it hard to hold back the tears when memories from a remarkably successful career begin to flow.
Although its guiding force is no longer at the helm, the Penn State Altoona volleyball program bears the indelible mark of a champion whose influence is sure to be felt long after Hedrick-Sheaffer's service to the College has ended.
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Coach Tick Hedrick-Sheaffer by the numbers:
Year by Year Record
| 1973 |
7-3 |
Western Division Champs |
| 1974 |
13-6 |
| 1975 |
11-6 |
| 1976 |
12-9 |
| 1977 |
10-9 |
| 1978 |
18-5 |
SAC Champs/CCAC Champs |
| 1979 |
20-3 |
SAC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1980 |
23-3 |
SAC Champs/CCAC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1981 |
20-4 |
CCAC Champs |
| 1982 |
16-5 |
CCAC Champs |
| 1983 |
21-2 |
CCAC Champs |
| 1984 |
20-4 |
WPCC Champs/CCAC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1985 |
10-12 |
| 1986 |
25-3 |
CCAC Champs |
| 1987 |
31-2 |
WPCC Champs/CCAC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1988 |
29-3 |
CCAC Champs |
| 1989 |
20-11 |
| 1990 |
27-6 |
CCAC Champs |
| 1994 |
8-9 |
| 1995 |
32-2 |
CCAC Champs/WPCC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1996 |
31-11 |
CCAC Champs/WPCC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1997 |
29-1 |
CCAC Champs/WPCC Champs/PA State Champs |
| 1998 |
7-14 |
| 1999 |
14-12 |
| 2000 |
13-14 |
| 2001 |
17-8 |
| 2002 |
13-12 |
27 years of coaching
497 wins
167 loses
11 Coach of the Year honors
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Lion Soccer Program Makes Great Strides in Second Season
 Losing the last game of the season by a 1-0 score is not what most people would consider a satisfactory ending…unless they look beyond the final tally to the significance of the contest. The Penn State Altoona men's soccer team dropped the 1-0 decision in the championship game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, concluding only the second season in the history of the program.
The Lions demonstrated tremendous improvement from their inaugural campaign, raising their overall record to 14-5-2 in 2002 from 4-10 in 2001.
Head coach John Parente's talented squad defeated many well-established teams en route to earning Penn State Altoona's first post-season berth.
Jared Bucher, a junior from Red Lion, PA, became the first Penn State Altoona athlete to earn All-America honors in any sport. For the season, Bucher totaled eleven goals, including six game-winners, and seven assists. The forward also was named to the Mid-Atlantic All-Region team by the National Soccer Coaches Association and Adidas.
In addition to Bucher, the Lions benefited from the superior play and leadership of Ryan Miller, a junior from Davidsonville, MD; Mitch Fletcher, a sophomore from Lock Haven, PA; and Andrew Nichols, a junior from York, PA. Those four were the veteran nucleus of a 31-man roster composed of twenty-one freshmen.
Harboring expectations for another successful campaign, Penn State Altoona will open its 2003 season at the Cortland Tournament in New York September 5-7. The team's first home game will be Saturday, September 13, against Waynesburg College.
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Student advisor Gail Good with her son Vincent |
Take a Kid to the Game at Penn State Altoona!
Area youngsters got to experience the college game-day atmosphere when Penn State Altoona hosted NCAA Basketball's annual Take a Kid to the Game (TAKG) program on Saturday, January 23 in the College's Adler Athletic Complex. The youths watched the game for free with a chaperone, received autographs from Lions and Lady Lions team members, shot hoops with players during halftime, and participated in many more fun-filled activities. More than 300 colleges across the nation participated in this event, focused on attracting more of the nation's youth to college games.
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Athletic Department Names Oustanding Student-Athletes of the Year
Kudos go out to Stacey Detwiler and Jake Hargreaves, the 2003 Outstanding Student-Athletes of the Year. Detwiler and Hargreaves were selected by Penn State Altoona's Athletics Department and honored at the annual sports banquet April 27. The annual award recognizes the male and female athletes that have displayed a high level of academic success along with a successful athletic career, as well as exhibiting sportsmanship and character.
Stacey Detwiler, catcher for the softball team, is a criminal justice major from Bellefonte, PA, with a 3.88 cumulative grade point average. Having just completed her junior year, Detwiler is also a member of Alpha Lambda Delta's National Academic Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa National Honor Society and the Penn State Altoona Criminal Justice Club. Detwiler has been on the Dean's List every semester of her enrollment at the College.
The male Outstanding Student-Athlete, Jake Hargreaves, is an Altoona native. Hargreaves, having just completed his sophomore year, played first and third base on the Lion's baseball team. He is majoring in business administration and is carrying a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Hargreaves has also earned the Mary Charlesworth Scholarship and the President Sparkes Award. He is very active with the baseball clinics for children and is a very patient instructor.
"These are just the most recent in a long line of fine student-athletes to come out of varsity athletics at Penn State Altoona," states Brent Baird, sports information director. "At Penn State Altoona, we believe that the student-athlete is a student first and strive to be supportive of their academic efforts. Stacey and Jake are two examples to celebrate – individuals that have coupled great academic records with strong athletic careers."
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Stacey Detwiler
Jake Hargreaves
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Penn State Altoona Tops Tennis
It may not have been as easy as previous years, but a win's still a win. On April 19, the Lions won their fourth AMCC championship in the last five years, this year just edging Frostburg State University by two points. Penn State Altoona collected 11 points, while Frostburg had nine and Penn State Behrend had seven. Unlike years before, Penn State Altoona struggled to stay as the top power in the AMCC. But when the season came to an end, Penn State Altoona still reigned in the AMCC.
 It came down to the wire for the Lions, but junior Jared Feerrar came through in the last match. "Jared's match assured us that we weren't going to share the title," Lions head coach Steve Genter said.
Down 6-4, 4-0 in the first two sets, Feerrar had an amazing comeback, and ended up winning the match in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, as the No. 3 singles. Just before that, sophomore J.D. Goldstein won his match as the No. 5 singles against John Marini of Behrend, who had beaten him earlier in the season. Goldstein came back too, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, to assure at least a tie with Frostburg. Goldstein's win came as a pleasant surprise to Genter, along with a little breathing room for the rest of the team. "I think J.D. overcoming his early season loss to help win the title was a relief," Genter said. "His win gave us that extra insurance point."
The rest of the team contributed their part as well. Sean Condit, sophomore, won at No. 4 singles, David Bruno, junior, and Yannick Rivetti, sophomore, won at No. 1 doubles, and Feerrar and Condit took the No. 2 doubles. "I never expected that it would come down to one match like it did," Bruno said
The Lions finished the regular season 4-2 in the AMCC. Fighting through injuries and a much tighter conference, the team showed the heart of a champion down the stretch. "Last year we all had it going all year but this year we all struggled at points during the season," said Jim Hofer, who dropped a tough third set in the No. 6 singles final. "This year was tougher and that showed in the championship. We had to gut it out in some tough third set matches that were evenly played."
The last season to which Hofer refers was the 14-1 overall record that the Lions compiled in 2002. Genter, who also coached the Lady Lions to an AMCC championship in the fall, knew going into the tournament that it would be tight and it led to a more exciting and memorable set of matches.
Penn State Altoona now has six AMCC tennis championships, as well as two second place finishes combined from the men's and women's teams over the past five years. No other conference school can come even close to that record. The word is definitely out – Penn State Altoona is the team to beat.
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2002-2003 Results
Women's Volleyball
Overall Record: 13-13, Conference: 7-5
Men's Cross Country
Overall Record: 1-46
Women's Cross Country
Overall Record: 9-48
Women's Tennis
Overall Record: 9-3, Conference: 4-0
AMCC Champions
Men's Golf
Overall Record: 42-14-2;
1st Place, Penn State Altoona Invitational
Tie-3rd, AMCC Championships
Women's Soccer
Overall Record: 10-7-1, Conference: 2-4
Men's Soccer
Overall Record: 14-5-2, Conference: 5-2
ECAC Mid-Atlantic Tournament Finalist
Women's Basketball
Overall Record: 12-14, Conference: 6-6
AMCC Tournament Semi-finalist
Men's Basketball
Overall Record: 2-25, Conference: 0-12
AMCC Tournament Semi-finalist
Men's Swimming and Diving
Record: 2-3 Dual Meets
5th Place, Westminster Relay Carnival
6th Place, Grove City Invitational
Women's Swimming and Diving
Record: 0-7 Dual Meets
6th Place, Westminster Relay Carnival
7th Place, President's Athletic Conference Championships
Men's Tennis
AMCC: 4-2
Overall record: 7-5
Won AMCC Tournament 4 out of 5 years
Men's Baseball
AMCC: 6-6
Overall record: 17-25
Women's Softball
AMCC: 10-12
Overall record: 22-13
2nd Place, AMCC Tournament
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Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference to Expand
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference announced in January that it will expand by three teams in 2004. The institutions scheduled to join the conference are Hilbert College and Medaille College in Buffalo, NY, and Mount Aloysius College in Ebensburg, PA. After the expansion, ten institutions will comprise the conference membership.
The expansion will aid the conference in its efforts to secure an automatic bid for all championship events sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Student-athletes at Hilbert and Medaille will be eligible to compete in all individual sports sponsored by the AMCC this fall. Athletic teams at the two colleges will be eligible for competition in fall 2004. The timetable will allow each of the conference schools to honor all existing contracts with other institutions before the new members are added to their schedules. Mount Aloysius will follow a similar timetable after completing the initial steps involved in applying for NCAA Division III membership.
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Sports Shorts
The women's tennis team won its second consecutive Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship October 19 at Penn State Erie. The Lady Lions totaled 15 points to capture the title, six more points than the second-place host school.
In its second year of varsity status, the women's soccer team posted six more victories than a year ago, improving to 10-7-1 from 4-10. With a solid cast of recruits, prospects for 2003 are bright.
Late-season individual achievements were plentiful for members of the men's and women's swimming and diving team. In competition at the ECAC Championships, freshman Kyle Centrella won the 200 backstroke, and placed third in the 200 medley and fourth in the 100 backstroke. Freshman Natalie Creighton placed second in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events. At the Grove City Invitational, sophomore diver Erin Kelly placed first on the three-meter board and second on the one-meter board.
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Calling All Former Varsity Athletes
 The Sports Information Office and Alumni and Development Office are searching for all individuals who participated in varsity athletics, dating back to when the College was named the Altoona Undergraduate Center. The goal of the joint project is to establish a database of former Penn State Altoona varsity athletes that will facilitate the exchange of news and information and create a means of communication among former teammates.
The database will include names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and pertinent information about each individual's athletic participation. The data collection also will focus on team records, awards, and championships.
"I believe this project is so important to preserve the sports history at Penn State Altoona," stated Brent Baird, sports information director. "Much of the information has been lost over the years, especially during the period when varsity athletics were not offered at Penn State Altoona. Our hope is that we will be able to compile a comprehensive database that will enable us to involve former athletes in the varsity athletics program long after they have departed Penn State Altoona."
James Caltagirone, director of alumni relations, noted that the database will allow Penn State Altoona staff to compile accurate mailing lists used to extend invitations to special events on campus and to provide updates on varsity teams throughout the year.
Former varsity athletes are invited to submit their information on-line by clicking here.
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