Lake Erie Storm
| Lake Erie Storm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Lake Erie College |
| Conference | Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (until 2017) Great Midwest Athletic Conference (from 2017) ECAC Division II Lacrosse League (lacrosse) |
| NCAA | Division II |
| Athletic director | Reid Guarnieri |
| Location | Painesville, Ohio |
| Varsity teams | 17 |
| Football stadium | Jack Britt Memorial Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Jerome T. Osborne Family Athletic and Wellness Center |
| Baseball stadium | Braggs Field at Painesville Kiwanis Recreation Park |
| Softball stadium | Diamond 9 at Painesville Kiwanis Recreation Park |
| Soccer stadium | Jack Britt Memorial Stadium |
| Lacrosse stadium | Jack Britt Memorial Stadium |
| Mascot | Stormy |
| Nickname | Storm |
| Colors | Green and white[1] |
| Website | www |
The Lake Erie Storm are the athletic teams that represent Lake Erie College, located in Painesville, Ohio, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions. The Storm compete as members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), although Lake Erie will move its varsity sports to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) in 2017.[2] Lake Erie College was a member of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) of Division III through the 2007–08 academic year but completed the process of moving to Division II at the conclusion of the 2008–2009 academic year.[3]
All of Lake Erie's teams participate in the GLIAC with the exception of men's lacrosse, which competes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
History
Through the 2013–14 academic year, Lake Erie student-athletes had earned 43 DII All-American honors and 19 individual conference championships. The 2013–14 academic year has proved to be the most successful in the institution's history with six teams (baseball, men's lacrosse, men's swimming, men's indoor and outdoor track & field, and wrestling) earning top 25 national rankings or NCAA tournament bids. The program also recorded its highest-ever finish in the Learfield Directors' Cup Standings (79th), which paced it near the top 25% of all D-II programs in the country.
At various times in its history prior to joining the AMCC, Lake Erie competed as a member of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Small College Athletic Association (NSCAA). The College’s softball team won the 1991 NSCAA National Championship.
A newly heated rivalry has begun with Ashland University, a two-hour drive away in Ashland, Ohio.
Nickname
The official nickname of the College’s athletics teams is the Storm. The name was chosen to replace the nickname Unicorns when the College added men’s intercollegiate athletics beginning in 1988. Their mascot is Stormy.
In 2010, Lake Erie College engaged in a legal dispute with a professional football club in Erie, Pennsylvania after that team took on the moniker "Erie Storm."[4] As a result of the dispute, the professional team was rechristened the Erie Explosion, a name that remains with the team as of 2015.
Varsity teams
List of teams
|
Men's sports (9)
|
Women's sports (8)
|
Individual sports
Baseball
One of Lake Erie's All-Americans, baseball player Ryan Rua, was a 17th round draft pick of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball in 2011 – the first professional draft pick in school history. Rua made his major league debut with the Rangers on August 29, 2014 and ended his first call-up with a .295 batting average, two homeruns, and 14 runs batted in, in 28 appearances. Outfielder Luke Raley became the second Lake Erie player drafted in 2016 when the Los Angeles Dodgers selected him in the seventh round of the MLB draft. For his career, Raley hit .379 with a .471 on-base percentage and a .654 slugging percentage. He totaled 160 hits with 121 runs, five triples, 31 doubles, 25 homeruns and 101 RBI.
Lacrosse
The Storm men’s lacrosse program was a founding member of the East Coast Athletic Conference Division II Lacrosse League which formed in 2012 and played its first competitive season in 2013. In 2013, just its fourth year in competition, the men's lacrosse team reached the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals and junior Trevor Tarte led the nation in goal scoring. In 2015, the team reached the NCAA Division Semifinals having defeated the University of Tampa in the first-ever Division II NCAA postseason event hosted on the Lake Erie campus. That season was marked by the team achieving the first-ever number one national ranking for any team in the history of the program. Men's lacrosse began play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2017.
Swimming and diving
Swimmer Julian Milinkovskyi also earned All-American status in 2014 by finishing in the top eight at the NCAA Swimming & Diving National Championships in both the 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard individual medley.
Track and field
In the spring of 2010 the Lake Erie track and field team boasted the first NCAA Division II All-Americans in school history when Ethan Snyder finished 7th in the nation in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles and Chris Burrows finished 8th in the nation in the 200 meter dash. Since that time, Lake Erie has had a successful run of individual accomplishments at the national level. Edward “Jamil” Dudley became the school’s first national champion when he won the high jump at the 2012 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Dudley was also a national champion in the high jump and teammate Joe Postwaite was a national runner-up in the triple jump at the 2014 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Wrestling
In 2013, wrestler Zak Vargo was the national runner-up at 157 pounds at the Division II Wrestling Championships. Vargo repeated his All-American performance at the 2014 Championships again in the 157 pound weight class and was joined by freshman teammate Evan Rosborough, at 197 pounds.
References
- ^ Lake Erie College Storm Athletics Brand Style Guide (PDF). Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ "GLIAC grants two schools provisional membership". Retrieved 2009-11-23.
- ^ "NCAA approves Lake Erie College as Division II Provisional Member". Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- ^ Victor Fernandes (May 7, 2010). "Lake Erie College sues Storm over nickname". www.goerie.com. CyberInk LP and the Erie Times-News. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
